Speaking about the LP, he said: "It'll both surprise and comfort people. There's some normal Ed songs, but there's also some more sonically adventurous ones as well."

Stuart believes Ed can " play a bit dangerously" with his new songs because he's so established.

He explained: "When you're an established artist at the level we're at, you can play a bit dangerously with the first single back, because you know you're going to get some exposure.

"We knew we could take a slight risk – although you then balance that out with s******* yourself about that slight risk two minutes before it's due to come out!"

Ed is set to go on tour for "two to three years" if the coronavirus pandemic allows.

He told Variety: "We'll be touring – if we're allowed to – for two to three years, and there may be more records in that period. If we tour for that long, I'd imagine there will be two albums within that cycle. Because this record's taken so long to make, we genuinely have a lot of songs, so it could happen relatively quickly. If he wanted to, he could literally release an album of acoustic ballads tomorrow!"

Meanwhile, Ed previously admitted he almost retired after the birth of his daughter Lyra.

He explained: "I stopped playing music for a bit. And music is entirely me as a person.

"Then I had my daughter and I was like, 'Right, that's it. This is me. I am probably just going to be a dad. I am not going to play music anymore.'"