Ed Sheeran has announced the release date and name of his upcoming fourth album as well as unveiling a new song.
The singer songwriter posted the artwork to his Instagram account, announcing his next album will be "=" (Equals) and will be released on October 29th. He also shared the 14 song tracklist with his fans.
Sheeran says this new album is the "best bit of work" he's produced.
In the post Ed also explained the symbolism behind the new album and how the artwork was created.
The album artwork was partially painted by Sheeran himself during lockdown, with a friend then helping him to design the finished result.
Speaking about the album and it's design, Sheeran said, "You will have seen the little chrysalis cocoon that is on there. Basically, the symbolism behind the album is sort of new life.
"I've been through, over the last sort of four years, different experiences in life, including... getting married, having a kid, losing a friend, and I just felt like the butterfly symbolism fit in with that.
"There's 14 songs on the album. It's been a kind of painstaking process, cutting it down to 14 songs.
"I started with quite a lot, but they all have their place and I love it, I think it's the best bit of work that I've done, and it's cohesive, and it feels great."
In his Instagram post announcing the news of the album Sheeran explained that he began writing and recording his fourth album in June 2017 but since then has been through a lot of life changing moments and said this piece of work is a "coming of age record". He also goes on to say he's "never been more proud of a body of work".
Sheeran has also released a new song from the album. "Visiting Hours" is a follow up to "Bad Habits" from = (Equals). Ed explains the song was finished for his friend Michael that passed away this year. The 30-year-old released an acoustic video of the song last night and has officially released the song on all platforms today.
The full track list for = (Equals) is:
- Tides
- Shivers
- First Times
- Bad Habits
- Overpass Graffiti
- The Joker and the Queen
- Leave Your Life
- Collide
- 2step
- Stop The Rain
- Love In Slow Motion
- Visiting Hours
- Sandman
- Be Right Now
