Justin Bieber Still Isn’t Retiring, Still Making A Point

Justin Bieber isn’t retiring.

An official statement from the singer’s management team and a decision maker behind the Believe movie has now confirmed this, adding to previous denials made to no avail by his manager Scooter Braun.

The new statements follows the 19-year-old’s posting of three tweets on Christmas Eve.

Bieber’s first tweet read, “My beloved beliebers I’m officially retiring.” Equal despair and delight around the web was palpable at the time.

The second appeared to give reasons for the radical step. Namely, “The media” and said industry’s “lies,” before an assurance to his nearly 48 million Twitter constituency that he was “never leaving.”

Bieber’s third pronouncement seemed to remember it was in fact Christmas Eve and not the best time to send already hyper kids careening off the deep end.

After punching out a seasonal message, he capped with, ‘IM HERE FOREVER.”

Senior heads connected to the singer’s career have now stepped in to draw a line under the retirement ruse.

As per Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy, Tom Ortenberg, Chief Executive Officer for Open Road Films, distributors of the Believe film, refutes speculation that Bieber’s tweets were an attempt to drum up last minute business and has denied it was a marketing move.

Next, Scott Manson, Chief Operating Officer of Braun’s company, Scooter Braun Projects (SBP), told WSJ Justin is “100 percent” not retiring and will be returning to the studio next year.

In fact, the Canadian may have already.

Depending on your timezone, earlier today he tweeted: “Fredo [Alfredo Flores, friend and videographer] and I are working on a little surprise for you.”

That surprise seems to involve a montage of pretty young things Bieber serenaded during Believe tour renditions of “One Less Lonely Girl” being set to one of his more explicit Journals songs, “Hold Tight.”

Finally, a fuller statement about Bieber’s non-retirement came from Allison Kaye, General Manager and longtime member of SBP.

Justin is a hard working 19 year old who would prefer that his recent fundraising work in the Philippines and the considerable amount raised for the cause be the media’s focus more than the recent reporting on him retiring.

Regarding his recent tweeting about his ‘retirement’ Justin felt that this was the best way to respond to the latest in a long line of inaccurate or wildly exaggerated media reports about him.

He chose to channel his frustration into playing along with this baseless rumor and even used ‘beloved’ to tip off his core fans that it wasn’t real. But within 20 minutes, Justin realized that fans were confused by the media reports and clarified that he was kidding. This wasn’t a planned stunt, it was just another day in the life of living under the microscope.

Justin loves his fans and understands that this scrutiny comes along with his success and the interest in him from fans and media.

Notwithstanding that some of Bieber’s difficult 2013 transit was caused by his own actions, unquestionably a significant proportion of resulting media reporting was – and is – skewed negative, inflated, or fictional.

Rather than laboriously repeat examples, they can be read here, here, here, here, here, and this will have you rolling in the aisles, here.

So there you have it.

Bieber isn’t retiring and Believe’s 14th place in Christmas box office rankings would likely have happened with or without his ‘Eve tweets.

Some may feel inclined to condemn the kid’s ruse.

But for the better part of a year, a youngster constantly slammed for his integrity stumbles, has had to watch a dubiously sourced gossip stories or claims with little to no evidential basis repeated across the media.

They stack alongside factual events and incidents, adding unearned weight to an impression of a teen that is already distorted.

Making elements in that same media dance to the same disingenuous tune for a few days seems a paltry exchange.