Ed Sheeran has another new album already recorded

Ed Sheeran’s manager, Stuart Camp, has revealed that the songwriter has already recorded the follow-up to = (pronounced equals, due for release this Friday).

Sheeran’s last proper solo album was 2017’s ÷ (Divide) but Camp told UK newspaper The Sun [via Contact Music] that fans would not have another long wait on their hands. 

“This tour is going to span three or four years, and there will be another record within that cycle, that was always the plan,” said Camp. “It’s more a question of stopping him putting another record out the week after this one.”

Sheeran is known as a prolific writer and reportedly wrote over 250 songs during the period of ‘time-off’ that followed the birth of his daughter, in September 2020. It’s perhaps not surprising then to hear he has another record already in the can.

“The material is there and it won’t be another four-year wait, I can promise you,” said Camp. “Ed already knows what the next album is. He’s already got a track-listing for it, and I will get that changed over the next 12 months. Ed writes so many songs, and he wants to get them out, he doesn’t want them just sitting on his hard drive.”

Sheeran also recently took to Instagram to inform fans that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating, in accordance with UK government guidance.

The announcement has thrown some plans around the release of = into doubt, including his scheduled appearance as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 6.