Habitual

"Habitual" is a song by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was released through Def Jam Recordings as the second track from his fifth studio album, Changes, on February 14, 2020. Released on Valentine's Day, Bieber wrote the song with producers Poo Bear, Tainy, and Josh Gudwin.

Background and composition[]

"Habitual" originally belonged to American singer-songwriter and record producer Poo Bear, who produced the song with Tainy and Josh Gudwin. Poo Bear's version of the song was first revealed in the third episode of Bieber's docu-series, Justin Bieber: Seasons (2020). Bieber also called the song "one of my favorites" from Changes.^[1] The song was originally a Poo Bear song until Bieber heard the song and recorded his vocals. Poo Bear's vocals can be heard on the repeating line, "na-na, da-da, da-da, da-da", of Bieber's song and is credited as a background vocalist. "Habitual" is a R&B song that sees Bieber talk about settling down with his wife, Hailey Bieber, in which he sings: "Aggressive but softly, you place your lips on my lips / We're each other's vice / Our feelings, they go deep, deeper than the touching / Deeper than the ocean, so we ain't never rushing through / Our days or our nights, ain't no repercussions / Never get enough, I'm only for your consumption".^[2] Writing for New York, Zoe Haylock felt that Bieber's use of the word "consumption" in the song and later in the album on the track "Running Over", which features American rapper Lil Dicky, made the word "a word that has never been seen as sexy until Changes".^[3]

Critical reception[]

Writing for Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood noted how "you can hear how gratified he [Bieber] is to have some space to stretch out" in songs like "Habitual" and another Changes album track, "Available". Wood also compared the two songs, "which sound like demos compared with the tight grid-like structures" from "Sorry and "What Do You Mean?", two singles from Bieber's previous album, Purpose (2015).^[4] Taylor Weatherby of Billboard's saw "Habitual" as the best song on Changes, writing that "the throbbing, wavy production is captivating in itself, and then top that with Justin's silky voice and you have yourself a winner" and the song "might not be the catchiest song on Changes, but its the quintessential representation of what Bieber wanted to achieve with the album: to deliver that R&Bieber, and to tell [his wife,] Hailey [Bieber,] just how much he loves her".^[5] Insider's Courteney Larocca and Callie Ahlgrim also felt that "Habitual" was "easily the best track" on the album.^[6] Roisin O'Connor from The Independent felt that Bieber took inspiration from his previous album, Purpose (2015), on tracks like "Habitual" from their "neat hooks and heavy R&B influences".^[7]

Dance and nature visuals[]

A dance visual for "Habitual" was released on March 2, 2020, along with a dance visual for Changes opening track and previous track, "All Around Me", also directed by him, to kick off a collection of 16 dance videos of all songs from the album titled Changes: The Movement. The dance video for "Habitual" was directed by Nick DeMoura and choreographed by Tessandra Chavez. It stars a group of dancers, who dance in pairs before meeting up all as a group at the end. As the curtains close, one couple is left embracing, which represents the theme of the song.^[8]

The nature visual was published exclusively to Apple Music the following day, March 3, 2020. Bieber later officially published the video to his YouTube channel on April 10, 2020. In the nature visual, Bieber walks through an old abandoned church in an abandoned Spanish-style mission, where he sports a light blue buttoned-down shirt with a red baseball cap and a pair of Timberland boots.^[9]

Credits and personnel[]

Credits adapted from Tidal.^[10]

• Justin Bieber – vocals, songwriting
• Poo Bear – production, songwriting, background vocals
• Tainy – production, songwriting, bass guitar, keyboards, drums
• Josh Gudwin – production, songwriting, mixing, engineering, vocal production, studio personnel
• Elijah Marrett-Hitch – assistant mixing, studio personnel
• Colin Leonard – mastering, studio personnel
• Chris "TEK" O'Ryan – recording, studio personnel
• Chenao Wang – assistant recording, studio personnel
• Kory Welty – engineering, studio personnel

Charts[]

References[]