Ed Sheeran Has Seemingly Revealed the Title of His Next Album

Ed Sheeran has seemingly just revealed the name of his upcoming LP in a social media comment. The Suffolk-based pop star has been teasing his return for 2025 and shared a few hints about what the record may sound like.

Now, in a comment on an Instagram post, Sheeran appeared to reveal that the record would be called Play.

The “Shape of You” singer was responding to a post on the page of @memezar, which noted that Sheeran had changed his profile picture in anticipation of the return. “Ed Sheeran recently changed his profile picture guys! What math is he gonna do next?” a fan wrote. This referred to the Sheeran’s Mathematics album series, which included five studio records: + (2011), x (2014), ÷ (2017), = (2021) and – (2023).

In response, Sheeran wrote: “Irony is if you ask me anything maths related I would fail the question, I never finished high school.” He then signed off by appearing to reveal the title of his next LP. “Play coming soon though,” he added.

In another comment to a fan who wrote theorised that the next series of records would be called “Play, Pause, Stop, Rewind, Skip,” Sheeran responded: “might skip Skip tbf.”

It’s not the first time he’s referred to the title. In 2023, Sheeran posted: “See you sometime next year when we press Play again on pop, and have a good holiday season x.” In 2022, he confirmed that he would be making “10 symbol records,” but said that “the next five won’t be maths.” Billboard U.K. has reached out to Sheeran’s representatives for comment.

His upcoming record would be Sheeran’s eighth studio LP, and would follow 2023’s Autumn Variations. In December, Sheeran teased that his new album would be a return to bigger sounds. “It feels like I’m getting back into big pop for the first time in a long time,” he told Variety. “It’s quite exciting.”

Earlier this week an impromptu performance by Sheeran was shut down by police in Bengaluru, India due to an alleged lack of permissions. In footage of the incident police can be seen interrupting Sheeran’s performance of “Shape of You” and unplugging his instruments. “We have permission to be here, but this policeman is shutting it down,” Sheeran can be heard telling the crowd. “See you later!”

Sheeran is in the midst of his Mathematics tour and will perform on Saturday (Feb. 15) in Delhi before a run of dates in China.