Ed Sheeran hints new album is coming 'later this year' in birthday post

For his 30th birthday on Monday, Ed Sheeran gave his fans the biggest gift: the word that new music is coming.

On Instagram, the four-time Grammy winner posted a photo of a chocolate cake with a pirate face on it, resting on a pirate-themed tablecloth decorated with fake gold coins. Sitting next to the cake on the tablecloth was a photo of himself at the age of 3, dressed like a pirate -- complete with a fake sword.

"30 today. Thank you for all your wonderful messages, I feel very loved," Sheeran wrote. "Currently dressed the same as I was on my 3rd birthday about to chow down on Colin the pirate caterpillar, poor bloke."

He added, "I’ll be back online with the 4th installment in the series later this year, until then xx."

It's assumed that Sheeran's reference to the "fourth installment" means that he'll be releasing the next official album in his series of mathematically titled studio releases, which include 2011's "+" ("Plus"), 2014's "x" ("Multiply") and 2017's "÷" ("Divide").

Sheeran's most recent album was 2019's "No.6 Collaborations Project," and he released a new single called "Afterglow" this past December.

The U.K. singer announced in September that he had become a father, as he and his wife, Cherry Seaborn, welcomed a daughter named Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.