Songfacts®:

• "Way It Is" is a collaboration between Justin Bieber and Atlanta rapper Gunna. The song is about choosing peace over performance, trading in spectacle for sanctuary. Bieber sings with the quiet conviction of someone who's already been to the afterparty and is now just hoping for a good night's sleep and maybe a Sunday where no one's yelling. "That's just the way it is, then we can settle down, no more drama, no reason to complicate it," he croons.
• The song's heart lies in Bieber's desire to hunker down with his wife, Hailey, and build something real, domestic, and undramatic - an anti-tabloid anthem disguised as a love song. Gunna complements this, weaving together themes of devotion and luxury, rapping about offering emotional stability and building a life together, all while showering his lover with Yves Saint Laurent, Hermès, and Chanel.
• "Way It Is" arrives about a third of the way through Swag, Bieber's seventh album and his most emotionally mature to that point. If Purpose was the prodigal son coming home and Justice was the wedding toast, Swag is the part where you change the light bulbs and figure out who's doing the dishes.
• The song glides in on a cloud of pillowy R&B textures, courtesy of producers Carter Lang and Dylan Wiggins, who between them helmed nearly the entire album (Lang has credits on 20 of the 21 tracks; Wiggins on 19). It's a velvety slow-burn with Gunna's verse sliding neatly into the mix.
• "Way It Is" shares thematic threads with other Swag tracks like "Things You Do" and "All I Can Take," which both explore the nuances of love and intimacy.