After a long, painful year of waiting, the silence has finally been broken. Ed Sheeran, after taking a break from social media over a year ago, has finally returned to the spotlight.

The artist’s return was accompanied by a mysterious message in the form of a solid blue image. The message was posted on his social media accounts, including Twitter and Instagram, leading many fans to believe that blue will be color scheme of his upcoming album. Then, on January 1, Sheeran posted a short video clip on social media in which he held up a sign reading: “New music coming Friday!!” Fans are now on edge as they wait for Friday to hear the new music.

On January 2, Sheeran posted a seven-second video with the same blue background as the video posted days before. This video, however, also featured the flashing symbols “-” and “:”. When combined, the two seem to form the symbol for division, one that is speculated to be related to the title of his impending album.

If this proves true, consistency with his previous album titles and themes will be maintained. His first album “+” had an orange theme, while his second album “X” was accompanied by a green theme. Due to Sheeran’s cryptic blue posts and symbolic hints, fans are led to believe that his third album will be “÷” with a blue theme.

“I am looking forward to the release of new music, and I hope his new album is called Division,” said senior Nina Janies.  

Starting on January 3, Sheeran began tweeting silent clips of a sentence appearing onscreen, which are speculated to be lyrics from songs on his approaching album. On January 5, Sheeran tweeted a divide symbol, only confirming fans’ thoughts on the potential album title.

”I am excited to hear what he has in store for his next album. I’ve been waiting for a long time for new music.” said freshman Anjali Antani.

Sheeran also tweeted short teaser videos, which show a date and a time: “January 6, 5:00 am GMT” (12:00 am January 6, in EST).

On January 6, Sheeran will be hosting a breakfast where he plans to discuss the release of his new music on BBC Radio 1 at 7 am, GMT (2 am EST). Fans are counting down until the day when new music will be released, waiting hopefully for the release of his highly anticipated third album.