Justin Bieber has made a lot of mistakes, but clearly, it’s not too late to say sorry. Whether it was abandoning his pet monkey in a German airport, visiting a brothel in Rio or tearing through a residential area full of kids in his Ferrari, we all held a grudge against the doe-eyed singer.

Bieber’s image has been flatlining for a while, following his breakup from former Disney star Selena Gomez and his own fall from fame. While some Beliebers clung fast to their brown-eyed babe, the majority of us turned him into a punchline like that of Britney Spears circa-2006. The Bieber ship had made millions off of our abundant teenage angst and seemed rather unsinkable, but it has been taking on water ever since it collided with the crooner’s enormous iceberg of an ego.

His new album, Purpose, is a lifeline that this star will be riding back to shore. It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s something for the drowning star to cling to. While a floating door may not have saved Jack and Rose both, Bieber is shedding his excess. His new image is sleeker and molded to the Spotify age of EDM and synth that his now-older audience wants.

Long gone are the breathy ballads of “Baby” and “One Time,” and while Bieber’s voice may still maintain its boyish tone, it has matured enough to carry an album that doesn’t reek of pubescent teen angst. Co-producer Skrillex’s touch was heavy, but not overdone. Bieber is being pushed from tired songs like “Boyfriend” into edgy hits like “Where Are U Now” that reinforce his somewhat grown-up image.  Some songs fall flat, and seem to force a sense of repentance that isn’t needed on the album. However, this album is less about content and more about an act of repositioning the star into the mold of an adult musician. He is now able to cater to an audience of more than 13-year-old screaming girls and the ear-plugged parents that have to drive them to his sold-out concerts.

His album was dropped on the same time as British boyband One Direction’s fifth album Made in the A.M., but wasn’t overshadowed by the British sensations. His sound has diverged from the path that he once shared with them, and doesn’t need to compete with Simon Cowell’s multi-billion dollar creation that has suffered equally poor publicity in recent years.

His sound is wrapped in electronic synth, and is far from his boyish hair-flipping roots. His new release, with beats like “Sorry” and “No Pressure” put him into a class with stars like Drake and The Weeknd. But unlike these stars, his young age and striking good looks add a depth and craze to his image that bolsters any gains the star makes solely through music. His album holds an allure not unlike the hype surrounding fellow superstar Taylor Swift, due to the fact that Bieber penned many of the songs himself. His hordes of fans can’t help but replay every song, wondering who could possibly be the inspiration behind his brokenheartedness and new growth.

Whether or not you have stood by Bieber through the years, this album is enough to turn even his fiercest of critics into staunch Beliebers. His successful rebranding in Purpose has marked him as a star on a tide of redemption, and he may have just steered clear of a shipwreck once again. Whether his newfound grace will last is a whole other question.