Its hard to “beliebe” that on Christmas Eve, the 19-year-old Canadian pop-star, Justin Bieber, tweeted, “My beloved beliebers I’m officially retiring.” This was either the most devastating, shocking Christmas surprise for starstruck fans, or the best Christmas gift ever for the anti-beliebers. But before the fans could start rioting and melt into tears, less than 45 minutes after the first tweet, Bieber tweeted, “The media talks a lot about me. They make a up a lot of lies and want me to fail but I’m never leaving you, being a belieber is a lifestyle.” This rather naive yet assuring tweet was not surprising, for this has been a controversial year for the young singer.

Since the beginning of 2013, Bieber was nonchalant about a photo of him smoking marijuana, fainting at a show in London, bringing his illegal pet monkey to Germany (which was taken and quarantined), making a tactless comment after visiting the Anne Frank House (saying that she would have been a belieber), and many more bad decisions while intoxicated.

Just recently on Jan 14 the Los Angeles sheriff’s department raided Bieber’s house saying they were executing a felony search warrant after a neighbor complained that Bieber threw eggs at their house with at least $200,000 in damage. A video was posted with Justin’s voice in the background laughing, and then he was arrested in Miami, Florida for a DUI, resisting arrest, and having an expired license after drag racing with his rapper friend Kalil Sharieff. Bieber also pleaded not guilty for having marijuana and other drugs in his system. Just days later, Bieber was arrested again in Toronto for allegedly attacking a limousine driver, and smiled for his mugshot.

Just Beiber may be making bad descisions, however, Bieber is right about one thing; being a “belieber” is definitely a lifestyle. The controversial celeb is not the only one receiving hate, the fans do also. Dedicated fans constantly supporting someone whom most of the population hate is not easy. They are stereotyped as obsessive 12 year old girls, while his fans vary from the little six year old girl dancing to “Baby” to the teenagers spilling their feelings out into their diaries to “One Less Lonely Girl” or even other artists jamming out to Bieber’s hit song, “As Long As You Love Me,” featuring rapper Big Sean. The beliebers on Twitter are trending “#freebieber.”

Aside from all the hate that they gain from supporting Bieber, they do all they can to know everything about him. Fans already know that Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994 in Ontario, Canada at 7 lbs 12 ounces with his favorite animal being a giraffe and sandwich being a tomato and mayo on Wonder Bread, and the scar under his right eye is from getting hit with a branch while hiking. But that isn’t enough. They also need to know Bieber’s whereabouts every moment throughout the day and how he is feeling. They do this by getting in contact through social media with all of Biebers connections; for example his management, his friends, family, and even other beliebers around the area where he is currently in. Some Beliebers say that they have watched Bieber grow, not only as a person but musically. They have been there supporting him from the beginning and watched Bieber gradually become famous. The most dedicated beliebers have two goals: convert anti-beliebers into pro-beliebers, and constantly make Bieber smile (Bieber says “smile” 36 times in his song “U Smile”).

It’s not completely Bieber’s fault for turning out to be this hot mess. His life has been managed since such a young age, and he grew up with publicity streaming through his veins. He was raised with the fame and celebrity lifestyle. When you’re famous, you think you can get away with anything. Bieber thinks he can escape from his crimes simply because he is “The” Justin Bieber. Imagine if Bieber wasn’t so media constructed. His love for music would still be as strong as that six year-old in his first home video on Youtube. If Bieber really loved music, he would not quit his passion, even if he had enough money to support his entire family. He would continue to foster his success and perhaps donate his money and free time to charity and the bad behavior of the past month.

Despite his holiday announcement, Bieber is definitely not retiring; he just came out with another film, BELIEVE and a new album, “Complete my Journals”. If Bieber were like Usher or Justin Timberlake, his obvious career models, perhaps the music would be most important to him, not the fame. Are the beliebers blind to Bieber’s childish personality and unprofessional behavior? Bieber is not the little drummer boy on Youtube anymore. He is an extremely successful, professional artist, so he should behave respectively.