5/10 JUSTIN BIEBER  –  BELIEVE (UNIVERSAL)

But he doesn’t quite pull it off. His attempt at crooning in As Long As You Love Me, for example, comes across as whining, and the song is so over-edited and saturated with sound effects that it loses its charm.

The man-child continues to hang back in songs like Boyfriend, which requires  more oomph and energy.

He comes across best in titles like Catching Feelings, where it’s just him (mainly) and his guitar.  Bieber has something, but whether he’ll take this and eventually  progress into something different  still remains to be seen.  – LH