Last week, Justin Bieber announced the title for his new album, Justice, but the artwork for it looks awfully similar to the logo for a certain Grammy-winning electronic duo.
Justice is set to be the pop star’s sixth studio album. An outspoken Christian, Bieber leans into his faith, marking the “t” in the word as a cross. The only problem? We’ve seen this before. It’s the same design French duo Justice has used for its official logo since forming in 2003.
SPIN reached out to the duo’s management for comment, who responded with the following:
“Bieber’s team emailed us in May of 2020, asking to be looped in with Justice’s graphic designer to discuss a logo. 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.”
While the duo has made no official comment, their label Ed Banger made fun of the logo on Instagram, reposting Bieber’s “original sketch” of the album art with a tongue-in-cheek note to their long-time in-house designer, So Me.
“Ed Banger records appoints Mr Justin Drew Bieber as Art Director,” the caption reads. “We would like to thank Mr So Me for all his work since 2003. with love (and lots of fun).” The caption was signed “PW,” which stands for Pedro Winter, Ed Banger records boss.
SPIN reached out to Bieber’s team multiple times for comment on the similarity, though they made no response by press time.
“In a time when there’s so much wrong with this broken planet, we all crave healing and justice for humanity,” Bieber wrote in his Instagram announcement about the Justice album. “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.”
Justice won a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album in 2019 for their Woman Worldwide live record. It wasn’t their first Grammy, having won the award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for their take on MGMT’s “Electric Feel” in 2008. Justice has been mostly quiet in quarantine, but member Gaspard Augé has a solo album due for release later this year.
