Justin Bieber has announced via his official Twitter account that he is retiring from music. The Canadian pop singer made the announcement overnight (at roughly 3.20am Irish time), saying: "My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring".

Signs first became apparent last week that Bieber was considering backing out of the music industry at the age of 19, when he let slip his intentions during a radio interview - statements which were quickly shot down by his management. Now, however, it seems that Bieber has made up his mind.

Some have been questioning the timing of Bieber's announcement, given the fact that Justin Bieber fans the world over will wake up on Christmas morning to the news that their hero is no more. Others have suggested that the entire episode is a publicity stunt (Bieber has a movie out next week in the U.S.), while some are of the opinion that it's just a gag. In fact, Bieber tweeted "LOL" twenty minutes after the retirement tweet but it was quickly deleted.

Will Justin Bieber actually retire, or will this be more like Jay Z's 'retirement' back in 2004 where he remained incredibly productive and, in fact, continued to release albums. Time will tell on this one, but if we were the betting kind we'd slap money down on Bieber coming out of retirement before too long. Whether you like it or not.