Bieber’s “Yummy” leaves a sour aftertaste

Brooke J. Freundschuh

The long-awaited return of Bieber has arrived in the new decade. Over 4 years after the release of his 2015 album “Purpose” a lot has changed for one of the defining artists of the 2010’s. A great deal of hype was generated for this release both by Bieber himself and his fan base. Towards the end of 2019, he began teasing the idea of releasing an album in 2020. And now, just a week into the 20’s, the leading single is here.

“Yummy” opens with the hook, composed of Bieber repetitively singing “you got that yummy yum.” This repetitive line occupies most of the 3-minute and twenty-four second run time of the song. I fear that I will never be able to get Justin’s voice singing that line out of my head. After the first listen it was permanently ingrained in my head, and it has yet to leave. The hook relays a generic message of sexual attraction portrayed with the overused analogy of love or lust being compared to sweets, sugar and candy.

The first verse declares that his wife, Hailey Baldwin Bieber is the only one for him with the line, “ain’t on the side. You’re number one.” If the song did not already contain enough clichés for the 21st century listener’s enjoyment, Bieber opens the pre-chorus with a few lines about how much money he has. The pre-chorus also features the cringe-inducing line “light a match, get litty, babe.” We are then transported back into the reiteration of the “yummy yum” hook.

The second verse is filled with even less quality content than the first, and all too soon. The listener finds themselves hearing the “yummy yum” line again. And again. And again.

Justin closes by shouting out his own line of house slippers, discussing his luxury cars, along with stating that he’s proud that his girl is his and, of course, stating that she’s got that “yummy yum.”

Early on in listening, I began to question what the point in this song was. It clearly presents itself as a radio-tailored song about sex, but surely there has to be something more to it, considering Justin has not released music in four years and has undergone so many life changes in these years, right? He has hyped up the music he’s been working on, so nothing other than greatness should be tolerated, right? But after analyzing the song, I could not find a deeper message beneath the 55 “yums” and “yummys.”

There is nothing wrong with having music that is just for fun. Every song does not have to be “Bohemian Rhapsody.” After all, the purpose of music is entertainment, but clearly we have become more easily entertained as a society if this is the song that’s topping the charts and is the face of Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits.”

However, there’s something about the repetitiveness of this song that leads me to believe it will continue to be popular in 2020. I can already hear it being played at proms and pool parties alike. Although I did not expect profound poetry from Bieber’s return, it is disappointing that this is the music we are using to ring in a new decade.