Alongside the release of his fourth studio album, Purpose, pop phenom Justin Bieber also released a music video for the album’s first track, titled “Mark My Words.” Last year on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Justin Bieber revealed that this song is about his former girlfriend, Selena Gomez, and ever since then, I’ve been highly anticipating the track’s release. What I discovered upon first listen and viewing of the music video was something incredible and much deeper than I ever imagined.
The music video begins in black and white with a camera following Bieber as he walks down the backstage hallways of a concert venue. He can be heard speaking candidly over the footage and makes several remarks about his personal struggles over the past few years. “I didn’t really care, and that’s where things went bad because I got so involved in me, me, me,” Justin Bieber states. “I felt like I lost my purpose for a while, and now I feel like I’ve found my purpose. I just want people to see that there is hope and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The best is yet to come ahead of you.” Almost instantly, I was taken aback by Justin’s wise words, as I did not expect him to be so much more mature given only one year has passed since his last dangerous driving incident. I admire Justin’s honesty about his past mistakes in this audio clip, as well as his commitment to achieving a better future.
For the rest of the video, Justin Bieber can be seen singing “Mark My Words” atop a yellow piano in the middle of the desert. In addition to the music video, I was also quite impressed by the song itself. It features Justin’s voice effortlessly gliding over notes as he sings, “Mark my words, that’s all that I have / Mark my words, give you all I got / In every way I will / You’re the only reason why / Oh I don’t wanna live a lie / Mark my words.” Throughout the track, Justin Bieber also showcases his vocals chops with a series of beautiful falsetto riffs. These riffs reveal his true talent and why he is meant to be in the music industry in the first place.