Ed Sheeran penned “25 songs a week” during his hiatus.
The 30-year-old superstar took some time off to spend quality time with his baby daughter, Lyra, who was born in September 2020.
And the ‘Perfect’ hitmaker – who has the tot with wife Cherry Seaborn – has revealed he continued to work on new music and ended up writing two albums during his downtime.
Ed is quoted by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column as saying: “I have done two albums and have written like 250 songs. In that, about 50 ballads.
“I write about 25 songs a week and one of them will be all right and that will go on the ‘maybe’ list.”
What’s more, it’s been claimed the Grammy-winner had some songwriting sessions with Sir Elton John.
An insider told the newspaper: “Ed and Elton put their heads together and got some new tracks written together. They’re really good pals and it was great they could connect and work on new music together.
“The songs they wrote are great and they have a very special place in Ed’s heart.”
Fans will get to hear Ed’s fifth studio album – which is anticipated to be called ‘Subtract’ – later this year.
And he recently revealed Kylie Minogue features on the track ‘Visiting Hours’.
The pop pair came to team up on the track after Ed jetted out to Australia in March to perform at a memorial for his late pal, music executive Michael Gudinski.
The ‘Shape of You’ hitmaker joined Kylie on stage for renditions of ‘All The Lovers’ and ‘The Locomotion’, and Ed also performed ‘Visiting Hours’, which he penned Down Under as a tribute to his friend.
The moving song also includes the vocals of Jimmy Barnes and is set to be featured on Ed’s upcoming studio album, believed to be called ‘Subtract’.
He told ‘Ash London LIVE’: “Jimmy Barnes and Kylie are actually singing on that on the album now. I’ve got them singing backing vocals on it.
“From knowing Michael, they are the most important people in his life musically. He was always saying, ‘Kylie’ or ‘Jimmy Barnes’.
“When I was in Australia, I sang with Kylie and I was hanging with Jimmy Barnes and I said to them, ‘You guys have to be on the song.’
“So I got back to England, I recorded it and sent it off to them and they’re on it.
“I used to send Michael songs because he would always say, ‘You need to send me songs for Jimmy’.
“So I used to send him loads. He always wanted me to sing with Kylie and I ended up getting to sing with her.”
The hotly-awaited record will also feature Ed’s recent hit comeback single, ‘Bad Habits’.
The ‘Bloodstream’ singer’s last studio album was 2019’s ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’.