Justin Bieber resumed his cryptic Instagram posts on Saturday, August 2.
The ‘Daisies’ singer, 31, surprised fans by sharing an extreme close-up of his face along with the caption: “Broke another olive branch.” Bieber offered no further context for his post, though fans were quick to send him support.
“Sorry Justin 
happens to the best of us,” one commenter wrote, while another added: “Sometimes the Olive Branch is meant to be broken, @lilbieber You’ve got this.”
Bieber has frequently posted vague messages via Instagram this year, including a text exchange where he seemingly ended a friendship with an unknown person in June. Much like his most recent post, there wasn’t any firm context about what led to the rift.
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“I’m not used to someone lashing out at me. It’s not that I don’t see and feel your anger,” the former friend wrote to Bieber.
Bieber then seemingly ended the relationship by replying, “This friendship is officially over. I will never accept a man calling my anger lashing out. I enjoyed our short lived relationship. I wasn’t kidding when I told u [sic] I didn’t need u [sic] as a friend. I have good friends … who will respect these boundaries.”
Around the same time, Bieber warned against the dangers of Ketamine and suggested it wasn’t helpful when loved ones encouraged him to work on himself.
“This is how I feel after people keep telling me there’s more work to do after I’ve given everything I have to give. I don’t think any of us can handle hearing, ‘You just gotta try a little harder and you will be like me.’ It’s not true,’” he complained in June. “I listened to fools who told me to work harder. And there’s no end to trying to earn ur spot in this life because I tried.”
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He later insisted, “This life is about God loving us so we can love each other. Quit making ur life about work smh [shaking my head]. God will always inspire U to want to work hard.”
Things seemed to calm down around the time Bieber dropped his seventh studio album, Swag, in July. Swag debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200 chart and offered many opportunities to celebrate with his wife Hailey Bieber and their son Jack Blues.
Bieber’s success with Swag was even praised by his former manager and business partner Scooter Braun, who discovered the singer in 2008. (Braun guided Bieber’s career for 15 years before Us Weekly confirmed that they went their separate ways in August 2023.)
“Been having a beautiful start to the weekend and getting a lot of texts about how I feel about Justin’s new album,” Braun wrote via his Instagram Story on July 12.“This is, without a doubt, the most authentically Justin Bieber album to date. It’s beautiful, raw and truly him. And that matters.”
Braun went on, “I’ve had the privilege of witnessing [Justin’s] growth for almost two decades. Along every journey, there comes a time when an artist fully steps into their own — and that’s what he’s done here. He poured his soul into this project, and you can feel it in every single run.”
“The way he chose to release it is just as intentional as the music itself,” Braun noted. “I’m happy to see him do it his way. I have played no roll [sic] in this one, but as someone who’s always believed in him, I’m incredibly proud and impressed and genuinely enjoying this music.”
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While Justin never responded directly to Scooter, his wife Hailey later uploaded a side-eye selfie captioned with Mariah Carey’s song “Obsessed.”
A source close to Justin confirmed to Us in July that the musician viewed Swag as “a personal project,” almost like a mixtape, and that his label was already planning “a more traditional pop album for early next year.”
