Dijon is the hidden secret weapon of contemporary pop music. Even those who may not know his name have already heard his voice, his songwriting, his production, or music touched by his influence. Put simply, he left his imprint on two of the most important albums of 2025, spanning both the indie and mainstream pop worlds: Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE and Justin Bieber’s SWAG.
Bon Iver—or Justin Vernon—has been one of indie music’s defining figures ever since his 2006 debut For Emma, Forever Ago. After the release of i,i in 2019, he shifted his focus to collaborations, most notably with Taylor Swift, and to touring. SABLE, fABLE marks his first new record in six years. Over the past two decades, Bon Iver has evolved from his folk origins into increasingly experimental electronic terrain. Yet on SABLE, fABLE, he circles back to his roots in folk, while weaving in elements of contemporary R&B and pop. Dijon co-wrote and lent his voice to “Day One (feat. Dijon, Flock of Dimes),” widely considered one of the album’s highlights—a collaboration born from his stint as the opening act on Bon Iver’s 2022 tour. Reflecting on that tour in an interview, Vernon recalled: “That was the first time where I was actually like really, really, really humbled. I always enjoyed people we went on tour with, but I was like ‘Oh, this is fresh.’ What they were doing on stage, it reignited something. It really had me second guessing like, I love what we did, but it was like ‘Oh, we’re just about dinosaur. We’re just about over our own hill.’”
And what about Justin Bieber? SWAG arrived as a surprise release, his first album in four years since 2021’s blockbuster Justice. Across 21 tracks, it grounds itself in R&B while taking on a stripped-down, almost folk-like minimalism—at times feeling raw and unfinished, yet brimming with a fresh, unpolished energy. Just two months later, he doubled down with its companion record, SWAG II, spanning 23 more tracks in the same vein. Dijon played a key role here too, contributing to some of the project’s most essential cuts, including “DAISIES,” “YUKON,” “BETTER MAN,” and “LOVE SONG.”
Both albums are certain to be mentioned in this year’s end-of-year lists—and when they are, Dijon’s name will surface once again. The defining DNA of both records—the fusion of R&B and folk, the rough-hewn textures that feel closer to sketches than polished productions—are central to his identity. Though his 2021 debut Absolutely didn’t find major commercial success, many fellow artists recognized its freshness and folded elements of it into their own work. The result: Bon Iver has been praised for expanding beyond his typically introspective sound, both emotionally and sonically, while Justin Bieber has used the SWAG series to prove just how daring and adventurous he can be. Bieber’s history makes this all the more striking. Having started out as a teen pop idol, he transitioned into adulthood by incorporating R&B, hip-hop, and EDM into his music. At the peak of that arc, Justice showcased the full power of a global pop star, with heavyweight songwriters and producers assembled at every turn. SWAG, by contrast, brings together a new generation of artists, producing a record that asserts his stature in a different way.
Amid this renewed attention on Dijon, his second album Baby arrived on August 15. Interestingly, many of the artists he had worked alongside on the previously mentioned records appear here as well. Chief among them are Michael Gordon—better known as Mk.gee—who has been a close collaborator since Dijon’s debut, and BJ Burton, the producer frequently associated with Bon Iver’s later work. On the songwriting side, notable contributors include Tobias Jesso Jr. and Carter Lang. Jesso Jr., beyond the albums already discussed, has had a standout year in 2025 with credits on HAIM’s I Quit and Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving. Lang, meanwhile, is a frequent creative partner of SZA, having contributed to many of her songs.
This is more than just a chain of collaborations—it is a collective shaping the sonic ecosystem that has flourished in 2025. In other words, Baby and the two albums are not merely connected by chronology, but intertwined musically and philosophically. To this network, one could add Mk.gee’s 2024 record Two Star & The Dream Police, a project he and Dijon spearheaded that landed near the top of many year-end lists. There is also Mika’s Laundry, the 2024 solo effort from Matt Champion, formerly a core member of BROCKHAMPTON. That album, too, was produced by Dijon alongside Henry Kwapis, Jack Karaszewski, and other members of the so-called Baby team. In short, long before 2025, Dijon and his circle had already been expanding their influence, steadily positioning themselves within ever-larger projects edging closer to the mainstream.
Baby can be seen as the most personal and undiluted expression of the DNA shared across all these projects. Its predecessor, Absolutely, had already laid the groundwork, offering a direct visual representation of what small-scale, intimate creation could look like. The album cover, the short film documenting its live performances, and the music videos that spun out of it were all filmed in a studio designed to replicate the house where most of the songs were written.
On Baby, the methodology remains unchanged: once again, Dijon made the record in his own home. The music is raw, at times as if seeping through the cracks of a door in the next room. It folds together R&B and soul with folk, rock, electronic textures, and even flashes of classic hip-hop sampling. Yet, this is not careless chaos, but the result of skillful production. As a result, his music is neither garage rock nor bedroom pop. It lacks the amateurism that defines garage rock, and it stands apart from bedroom pop, which prides itself on recreating studio polish with personal equipment. This is why The New Yorker described Baby as “an album rife with contradiction and collision, its brilliance contingent on its inelegance”
Baby, however, distinguishes itself not through its visuals but through the consistency of its themes. Over the past four years, Dijon has built a family and become a father. The album’s title, in fact, comes from his son’s name, and the record is dedicated to his wife, Joanie, and their child. Its cover art is a snapshot taken at their wedding party. The opening track, “Baby!” addresses his child directly, explaining how he met the boy’s mother and how the name Baby came to be. “Another Baby!” follows in the style of 1990s R&B, extending the narrative into a song about another child. Stripped to melody and subject matter, the tracks lean on the traditional melodies of R&B and soul, imbued with feelings of love. Yet the lyricism of “Baby!” recalls the intimacy of country or Americana songwriting. “Another Baby!” might look like a romantic sub-style of R&B, but thematically, its focus on a “second child” feels oddly out of place within the genre. At times, these fissures surface as sonic distortions, as in “Fire!” or “Rewind.”
In short, Baby keeps its foundation in R&B, but subjects it to radical shifts in expression. The folk- and indie rock–tinged filters introduced on Absolutely have, over the past four years, become so established that they now appear in the work of other artists. On Baby, new elements emerge—hip-hop samples, prickling electronic tones, and layered studio production. The ingredients may change, but the principle remains consistent. For that reason, this album is not a turning point, an evolution, or a dramatic reinvention. Rather, it is a reaffirmation of what kind of artist Dijon truly is—and why none of his past work has ever felt dated. Baby, too, will hold that same timelessness for years to come.