Justin Bieber Sparks 'Retirement' Mystery

Justin Bieber has sparked confusion and dismay among his fans by announcing on Twitter that he is retiring.

The 19-year-old pop star wrote on Christmas Eve: "My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring"

And he followed his bombshell up with another message which may have been intended as an explanation, but muddied the water further.

He added: "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."

And he continued: "Be kind loving to each other, forgive each other as god forgave us through Christ Merry Christmas IM HERE FOREVER"

Biebs' confusing tweets come a week after he announced in a radio interview that he intends to retire.

And he has continued to tweet since, plugging his new movie Believe - but has not directly addressed his announcement.