In the media world it's already old news that Justin Bieber has decided to retire. What's in vogue now is to think up all sorts of reasons why he might want to throw in the towel. Even Bieber's management has gotten in on the game. The entertainment company behind him released a statement on his so-called retirement saying, "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." But they also added that the retirement was Bieber just kidding around. "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."
It's easy to see why people would be confused. Over the course of a couple of tweets, Bieber both announced his retirement and also announced that he's here forever.
The news that he was kidding comes on the back of a long list of reasons why Bieber might have thrown in the towel. Vanity Fair snarkily speculated about the singer's cryptic tweets saying:
He ended the three tweets with “IM HERE FOREVER,” which could mean one of two things. Either he is not actually “retiring” in the strictest sense of the word but is rather reinventing somehow, so this is all some sort of marketing ploy to usher in a new era of Bieber. He is only “retiring” his old persona, shedding it like a snake’s skin or a school uniform after graduating from 8th grade. It could mean that.
And the Toronto Sun noted, along with many others, that the timing of his Christmas Eve announcement was all too close to that of his movie Believe 's Christmas Day release.
Bieber's not the only one who's subjected to scrutiny after making a big announcement. Selena Gomez' recent calling off of the Asia and Australia legs of her tour prompted speculation that ran the gamut from her battling Lupus to needing time to get over ex Justin Bieber.
But Why does it always have to be a stunt or a crazy medical emergency? Why can't people just want a break or privacy? Why can't we take celebrities at face value? The desire to find a reason behind a sudden announcement is normal to feel, but when a celebrity like Justin Bieber says something as straight-forward as "my beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring." or Selena Gomez announces a cancellation of her tour saying "it has become clear to me and those close to me that after many years of putting my work first, I need to spend some time on myself in order to be the best person I can be," how much more analysis do we need to put into those words? Bieber is retiring and Gomez needs a break. That's it, nothing more.
Of course, Bieber threw a wrench into this with his management saying he supposedly isn't retiring after all and that he "even used 'beloved' to tip off his core fans that it wasn’t real." But if he wanted to retire, that should be okay. Until an official statement is made from Bieber himself, or if Selena Gomez confirms that she indeed needed a break to battle Lupus, can we just take them at their word and stop the spinning of lies, or speculation? Maybe these young stars just need a break, and there's nothing more exciting to it than that. That might not be an interesting story, but it is real life.
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