Daisies

Album: Swag (2025)
Charted: 1 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Daisies," the second track on Justin Bieber's 2025 album Swag, is a pop-R&B ballad that tiptoes between sensuality and vulnerability, with just enough ambient fuzz to make you feel like you've stumbled into a private moment. The song features Bieber's voice front and center floating over a crunchy lo-fi guitar that sounds like it was recorded in a garage.
  • "Daisies" plays with dualities: emotional closeness versus physical distance, and memory versus immediacy. It uses natural imagery - notably, "throwing petals like, 'Do you love me or not?'" - to evoke the uncertainty and longing that can come with love and separation.
  • The song is a candid reflection on the emotional wear and tear of Justin's relationship with wife Hailey. After all, it's not easy balancing global superstardom, late-night feedings and a marriage that has weathered more headlines than most politicians. Bieber and Hailey tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed their first child, a son named Jack, in August 2024. Swag, as an album, leans introspective, and "Daisies" in particular feels like a love letter written in lowercase letters.
  • Hailey gave the track her stamp of approval, posting it on her Instagram Story the day it dropped - modern romance's version of applauding from the wings.
  • The songwriting credits read like a Grammy afterparty guest list: Sir Dylan, Eddie Benjamin, Tobias Jesso Jr., Carter Lang, Dijon, Daniel Chetrit, and Mk.gee all helped Justin Bieber pen the song, with most of them also contributing to the production.
  • The word daisies doesn't appear in the lyrics. Instead, the song draws its title from the age-old ritual of picking flower petals to decode a lover's intentions.
  • The phrase "he loves me, he loves me not" is a classic motif in pop music. Whitney Houston's 1985 hit "How Will I Know" built its bridge around the phrase ("If he loves me, if he loves me not..."), capturing teenage uncertainty in glittering synth. Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue flipped the phrase in 1993's "Whatta Man" into a confident declaration of affection. Hayley Williams reimagined it as emotional collateral damage in "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris" (2020), while Taylor Swift gave it a sorrowful twist in "You're On Your Own, Kid" (2022), picking the petals and accepting rejection as a form of liberation. Then in 2024, Ravyn Lenae made it the hook in her song "Love Me Not."

    Bieber's version lands somewhere in the middle. Hopeful, but hesitant.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jack Tempchin - "Peaceful Easy Feeling"

Jack Tempchin - "Peaceful Easy Feeling"They're Playing My Song

When a waitress wouldn't take him home, Jack wrote what would become one of the Eagles most enduring hits.

Annie Haslam of Renaissance

Annie Haslam of RenaissanceSongwriter Interviews

The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.

Francis Rossi of Status Quo

Francis Rossi of Status QuoSongwriter Interviews

Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.

Billy Steinberg - "Like A Virgin"

Billy Steinberg - "Like A Virgin"They're Playing My Song

The first of Billy's five #1 hits was the song that propelled Madonna to stardom. You'd think that would get you a backstage pass, wouldn't you?

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?