Justin Bieber - Journals (2013)

Journals is the second compilation album by Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber. The album was only released digitally through online platforms, such as iTunes, on December 23, 2013 by Island Records. A ten-week digital download campaign entitled Music Mondays, in which one new song was released every Monday night, was held from October 7, 2013 to December 9, 2013. In addition to the songs released on "Music Mondays", Journals is also composed of other five previously unreleased songs. The recording sessions took place between 2012 and 2013, while the singer was on his Believe Tour, which generated one or two songs a day throughout the entire tour.

To achieve a more mature sound, Journals sees Bieber working with a variety of different R&B producers, such as The Audibles, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, Andre Harris, D.K. the Punisher, Soundz, Chef Tone, T-Minus, as well as his previous producers Maejor Ali, Diplo, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and Sir Nolan, while collaborating with R&B and hip-hop artists and rappers, such as Future, R. Kelly, Chance the Rapper, Big Sean and Lil Wayne. An R&B and soul album with pop influences, Journals mostly deals with themes of heartbreak and forgiveness in a romantic relationship. It was suggested that Bieber's relationship with former girlfriend, actress and singer Selena Gomez, was the main inspiration for the majority of the album. The album was supported with the release of ten singles, with two of them receiving music video treatment.

The album was met with lukewarm reviews from music critics. Although some praised its mature direction and labeled it his best material, others felt dismissed its similar themes and "unfinished" production. Despite promotions of the album that helped Bieber reach number one on the Social 50 chart and the release planned to capitalize the sales rush before Christmas, the album was not submitted for sales tracking to SoundScan, thus it did not chart on the Billboard 200 due to its first week sales going unreported. It reached the top-forty in some countries and debuted in the top 10 only in Denmark and Norway. The compilation was meant to be released physically, but due to the label not supporting Bieber's sound's choices, they did not support the album project. It was, however, eventually released on LP in 2016.