French Duo Justice Is A Little Bit Pissed Off About Justin Bieber’s New Album Artwork
Spot the difference?
Last week, Justin Bieber grandly unveiled the name and artwork of his upcoming sixth album, Justice.
“In a time when there’s so much wrong with this broken planet we all crave healing and justice for humanity,” he wrote on Instagram alongside the album cover. “In creating this album my goal is to make music that will provide comfort, to make songs that people can relate to and connect to so they feel less alone.”
A bold statement, echoed by the earnest album artwork — Bieber crouched and gripping his head in a green-lit tunnel, like a 2000s nu-metal fever dream.
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It was, characteristically, a lot. But something about the Justice logo caught the eye of dance fans — namely, that it’s very, very, very similar to the branding used by French duo Justice.
The hitmakers behind ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ have been using the same logo since 2003 — the central ‘T’ rendered into a cross, a key part of Justice’s aesthetic. According to Spin, Justice’s management was actually approached by Bieber’s team a year ago to chat through a potential logo, but talks fell through.
“Bieber’s team emailed us in May of 2020, asking to be looped in with Justice’s graphic designer to discuss a logo,” they told Spin. “We tried to set up a call between Bieber’s team and our designer, but the call was never completed and the conversation ended there. No one ever mentioned an album called Justice or a logo that says Justice. The first time we saw anything about it was the announcement.”
Which is more than a little awkward really. For a better look, here’s Justice’s logo (it’s been updated in various forms/fonts over the years, but you get the idea):
Justice’s logo – the French duo, that is. Not Bieber’s album.
The duo — Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay — haven’t made any official comment aside from the above, but their label Ed Banger threw some shade at Bieber on Instagram a few days ago.
“Ed Banger records appoints Mr Justin Drew Bieber as Art Director,” they wrote on Instagram under a picture of Justice’s logo. “We would like to thank Mr So Me for all his work since 2003. With love (and lots of fun).”
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Friends don’t let friends rip off logos. Bieber’s Justice will be released March 19.