Justin Bieber Argues That “Changes” Was R&B, Not Pop

It’s about that time, when fallout from the Grammy Nominations spreads across social media, particularly from those left feeling some type of way. Already, many have taken up arms over the notable snubs, including a staggering zero nominations for The Weeknd’s After Hours, as well as Album Of The Year snubs for both Roddy Ricch’s Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial and Lil Baby’s My Turn — the latter of which sparked a passionate retort from Quality Control’s P, who accused the Grammy Awards of being disconnected from the culture. 

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Hell, sometimes even those nominated aren’t entirely satisfied. In the case of Justin Bieber, who found his latest album Changes nominated for three separate categories, it was the misidentification of genre that left him rankled. Taking to Instagram to share his thoughts, Bugatti Biebs opted to make it abundantly clear that in his mind’s eye, Changes was not a pop album, but an r&b album. “Please don’t mistake this as me being ungrateful, these are just my thoughts take em or leave em,” he prefaces. “Thank you to the people who fought for me to even have any noms.”

“To the Grammys I am flattered to be acknowledged and appreciated for my artistry,” he writes. “I am very meticulous and intentional about my music. With that being said I set out to make an R&B album. Changes was and is an R&B album. It is not being acknowledged as an R&B album which is very strange to me. I grew up admiring R&B music and wished to make a project that would embody that sound. For this not to be put into that category feels weird considering from the chords to the melodies to the vocal style all the way down to the hip-hop drums that were chosen, it is undeniably, unmistakably an R&B album!”

Check out his case below, and be sure to sound off with your take — do you think Justin Bieber will forever find himself plagued by his pop music come-up?