AceShowbiz -

The wait is finally over. After teasing his social media followers with some audio clips, British singer Ed Sheeran returned to the music scene on Friday morning, January 6 with two brand new tracks, "Castle on the Hill" and "Shape of You".

"Shape of You" was co-produced by Sheeran and co-written by Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid. Unlike his previous songs, the new track is mostly filled with Marimba percussion. In the nearly-four-minute track, he talks about a budding romance as he sings, "The club isn't the best place to find a lover, so the bar is where I go/ Me and my friends at the table doing shots drinking fast and then we talk slow." He continues singing, "Everyday discovering something brand new/ I'm in love with your body."

On the other hand, "Castle on the Hill" has more fast-paced rhythm and powerful melody. The song reflects Sheeran's childhood as he sings, "When I was six years old I broke my leg/ I was running from my brother and his friends." He also pays homage to his hometown of Framlingham, Suffolk as he sings, "And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down/ I was younger then, take me back to when I." The rhythmic track was written and produced by Sheeran and Benny Blanco.

The new tracks come after Sheeran took a yearlong hiatus from social media. He revealed that during the time, he went to Japan for about a month and hung out with Japanese people. He also performed a few songs at the East Anglian Children's Hospice gala at the Natural History Museum in London. "This is the first time I've done a show in a year, so please bear with me. It's nice to be back. I've had a whole year off," he told the audience.

The two-time Grammy winner returned to Twitter last December with a cryptic blue image. Since then, fans have been widely speculating that it is a clue about Sheeran's next album. The singer recently fueled the speculation by posting an animated cryptic graphic, which resembled a division sign. The symbol might indicate his third album title as it followed the symbol themes of his previous albums, 2014's "x" and 2011's "+".