At Least for Now

“At Least for Now” by Justin Bieber does not sound like a typical pop song. Without much consistency in rhyme scheme or verse length, it reads more like a blank verse poem. And like with a poem, I wanted to analyze the lyrics closely for a deeper understanding of what the speaker is saying. I tried to remember throughout that, while Justin often sings autobiographically, “the speaker” is not necessarily him, but a persona he’s adopting for this song. It describes a particular situation: it may be one he has personally experienced, or he may be imagining it in a more metaphorical sense. To me, the song is all about whether outward appearance can reveal what someone is thinking or feeling, and the struggle to understand others and be understood yourself.

We begin the song with a complex, wordless exchange: “I’m concerned when you look at my face/You’re excited for no reason.” The speaker is guessing based on another person’s expression what she is thinking based on his expression (genders aren’t specified, but I’ll refer to the speaker as male and the other person as female, just to keep track). What’s more, he even seems unsure of his own inner thoughts, as he is reading himself as if from the outside: “I look lost,” “It’s cold outside from my expression.” Initially he treats not only her, but himself, as a stranger he must study. He has come to some conclusion about what she must be feeling, because he speculates on “what you think is fair,” but there is no indication that they are speaking. What we have is two people staring wordlessly at one another, trying to intuit their mental states.

And, accordingly, the rest of this verse and much of the second verse are concerned with outward appearance, as the two study one another. (I’ll skip the chorus and return to it later.) The speaker is loosening a tie and accepting a scarf; they sit on a couch; she is smoking; he is embracing her; they are both drinking. He mentions “ain’t nobody takin’ pictures,” so there are no external witnesses, but there need not be—they are laser-focused on one another’s movements. Importantly, he sings “Throw my arms around you, bear witness.” He is affirming that his action here, the only one that makes it clear they are touching, is not him pretending, but truly “bears witness” to his emotions. He cares for her. But he cannot access her internal state, and must continue to guess at her reaction to his appearance: “The stripes on my shirt, can you read between the lines?” He wonders if they’re on the same page.

In the last few lines, he seems to escape the tense situation, dismissing the guessing game that has sprung up between them: “Never mind me watching you, never mind the tension.” He goes to dance, “going on strike,” apparently giving up on being able to read her mind or have her understand his. And here the chorus, which may seem out of place in the rest of the song, begins to make sense: in contrast to the verses, it is all about what he is thinking and feeling, making it clear that we are now completely sharing in his thoughts, but not hers.

And what does he think? That at least for now, he’s trying to avoid disappointment—the disappointment of potentially learning that, contrary to appearances, they are not in sync at all. At least for now, he turns the pages, trying not to get stuck in these difficult moments.