London, Aug 19 (IANS): English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran announced the release date of his new album '=' ('Equals) on Thursday on his Instagram page.

The 14-song album, which the chart-breaking artiste started writing and recording in June 2017, will be released on October 29 this year. It's the fourth part of Sheeran's 'symbol album' series, following his seminal ‘÷' ('Divide').

Making the announcement, Sheeran wrote emotionally on his Instagram page: "It's been a long, long process. I've been through love, loss, new life, grief and everything in between during the whole period of writing it, and I feel like it's really a coming-of-age record. I've never been more proud of a body of work, or more excited/nervous for you all to hear it."

The 30-year-old artiste took a break from music in December 2020 after the conclusion of his Divide Tour.

He wrote in his Instagram post: "The next song off of it is called 'Visiting Hours', which I finished for my friend Michael who sadly passed away this year. If you pre-order the album, you get this song with it, but it's also on all platforms from now on. Lots more music to come, but for now I hope you are as excited as me for this album."

'Equals' will be released via Atlantic Records and will include Sheeran's single ‘Bad Habits' as well his latest, 'Visiting Hours'.

The 14 songs in the album are ‘Tides', ‘Shivers', ‘First Times', ‘Bad Habits', ‘Overpass Graffiti', ‘The Joker And The Queen', ‘Leave Your Life', ‘Collide', ‘2step', ‘Stop The Rain', ‘Love In Slow Motion', ‘Visiting Hours', ‘Sandman' and ‘Be Right Now'.