Bieber Tarnishes Billie's Biggest Hit with New Remix (Review)

"Bad guy," the biggest hit from Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO, didn't need a remix. Now, a good remix could have boosted the song to #1 over Lil Nas X's seemingly impenetrable "Old Town Road." Unfortunately, this remix with Justin Bieber is quite awful.

Bieber has slowly been returning to music with formidable appearances of Ed Sheeran's "I Don't Care," Gucci Mane's "Love Thru the Computer," and Chris Brown's "Don't Check On Me." On the new remix for "bad guy," Justin delivers a borderline laughable verse about how his "wrist is froze (so icy)" and how he has "more ice than snow." The worst lyrical offense comes at the end of his verse where he croons "Loosen my tie up so I can breathe/It ain't political, oh no." Whether Bieber is making a play on fashion or journalism and corporate politics, both interpretations are disastrous. At least Bieber sounds nice on the track, but even his solid vocal performance is undermined by his senseless ad-libs on the outro ("so icy," "damn right," "brr,").

The best remixes are literal new mixes of the songs. A remix for "bad guy" could have worked with updated production and more chemistry between Billie and Justin. Instead, we got a lazy and uninspired remix of a truly great song. This will not be enough to knock "Old Town Road" off the top spot, and if it does, it will just be for a single week.

Score: 27

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