Superstar Sheeran says no to nostalgia on new album
Ed Sheeran found his old smartphone in a hidden box, as he sings on his new album. And he felt an overwhelming sadness when he discovered conversations with deceased friends there. Because the stored yesterday not only brings back lost loved ones, but also reminds him of his own and others' mistakes, including an argument that tore his entire family apart.
“So full of love, yet also full of hate” is the device from the past - and so Sheeran puts it back in the box, because “nothing good comes from regret”.
The song is called "Old Phone," a folky guitar strum with a sing-along chorus that could have been nostalgic like "Galway Girl," perhaps even sentimental. This clear rejection of the past is rather unexpected for Sheeran; even the cynical John Lennon, in his memorial song "In My Life" (which Sheeran also has in his repertoire), assured everyone, living and dead, of his love for the Beatles.
The song is one of 13 on Sheeran's brand-new songbook, "Play." The album, as the artist wrote on Instagram in May, was "created as a direct reaction to the darkest time of my life." The opening track, aptly titled "Opening," also addresses this. It begins gently and folkily, then quickly shifts to hip-hop. Sheeran raps a musical biopic, or rather, an autobiopic. A spiritual opening, everything must come out: fears, grief, hurt, love, new courage.
In February 2022, while pregnant with their second child, his wife, Cherry Seaborn, was diagnosed with a tumor that could only be operated on after the birth. That same month, producer Jamal Edwards, Sheeran's best friend, died at the age of 31. A copyright lawsuit over his smash hit "Shape of You," which ultimately won in his favor, shattered his self-esteem. The following year, he won another.
The cute guy with the red hair and goblin-like grin was in a depression. "I felt like I didn't want to live anymore," Rolling Stone wrote in spring 2023. "Draw a line" is the conclusion of "Opening." "I have to stay strong for my daughters."
"After all that, I just wanted to create joy and color, exploring the cultures of the countries I've toured," he says on Instagram. "Play" was created around the world and completed in Goa, India. The greatest creative joy was recording it; the album "summarizes everything I love about music." And "Old Phone" and "Opening" appear as final rejections of a backward-looking perspective.
Ed Sheeran on his motivation for the album "Play"
"Play," then. Another word for "forward." That was definitely the end of math. The English musician had titled five consecutive albums with the symbols for basic arithmetic and the "=" sign. After an interlude titled "Autumn Variations" (2023), he's now moving back into the abstract.
Now, five more records will follow, featuring music control symbols familiar from music players and remote controls: "Rewind," "Fast Forward," "Pause," "Stop," and—first and foremost—"Play/Start." AKA "Play"—intended as a prompt. You have to imagine the exclamation mark.
Sheeran reportedly already had plans for the new pentalogy at 18, when he had just three EPs on the market. With the fourth, affirmatively titled "You Need Me," he made his first, very discreet contact with the Brit Charts (number 142). A year and a half later, the single "The A Team" reached number 3 in England (number 9 in Germany, number 16 in the US) and paved the way for the triumph of his debut album "Plus," which propelled him to the top of many charts. He has remained there ever since. He has sold 200 million records and is one of the kings of streaming portals.
Because there's one thing Sheeran can do like few others: pure pop. He stubbornly relies on his classic songwriting, recognizable to anyone who hasn't spent the last 14 years completely away from music, his Sheeraning, which, after his last two acoustic-dominated albums, sounds as colorful and opulent as on his mega-seller "Divide" (2017).
Sheeran has always embraced all sounds and genres: This time, he infuses the chorus of a Western dancefloor song with Persian harmonies. "Azizam" ("My Love") is about the desire to dance the night away with a (possibly forbidden) true love. The more powerful "Sapphire" follows the same pattern, only here Sheeran blends his Sheeranisms with Indian harmonies—and rhythms.
The lyrics vary from the previous one: dancing until morning, touching each other, joie de vivre. It's as fitting as bucketfuls of sangria for holiday islands – from Mallorca to Ibiza. Of course, there are parts of the lyrics in Punjabi, and you can hear the Bengali singer Arijt Singh. Every now and then – for example, in the shimmering "Symmetry" or the soft "Heaven" – you can hear Indian percussion.
But that's pretty much all the world music gloss has to offer. If you compare it to George Harrison's "Indian" Beatles songs, you can see the difference. Sheeran's main goal is to please. Once you get the songs in your head, you can't get them out of your head. Summer hits.
Otherwise: Sheeran as usual. For some, he's a hitmaker with a reliable musical signature. For others, like Coldplay, he's an exceptional talent whose artistic stance has been frozen by his unwavering commitment to commercialism.
The 34-year-old also delivers (as expected) a lot of love songs - sometimes they are pompous like "Camera", where photo and film cannot capture the lover as the Romeo of the song keeps her in his head, and sometimes graceful and simple like the piano-led "In Other Words", where Sheeran demands and promises with his silvery vocal rasp: "Give me your light and give me your shadow / I'll stand by your side".
Two for the "Sheeran Wedding Swoony" playlist. Oh yeah, with "The Vow" it would even be three – the track, with its 1950s feel, is reminiscent of his 2017 mega-song "Perfect."
According to statements, Sheeran chose symbols instead of a traditional album title, firstly, to give the works a thematic framework and, with an album cycle, to evoke in the listener the feeling that he is on a journey. Secondly, to avoid his face on the records, which so far has only been visible on the debut. Choosing graphic elements makes an album more identifiable than the constant rotation of artist portraits, Sheeran believes. So far, it's worked perfectly for him. Of course, the trick isn't his invention. There was the pop genius Prince, who renamed himself with an invented symbol on his 35th birthday (June 7, 1993) – when Sheeran was just two years old. The symbol looked extremely sensual – like a psychedelically curved amalgamation of the biological (and also astrological) signs for man and woman. And it had already appeared on the very danceable Prince album from 1992, where it served as its unpronounceable title. It was then legally protected as "Love Symbol #2." Since the symbol couldn't be pronounced, Prince's name was soon renamed Tafkap—The Artist formerly known as Prince—in the media. And his career spiraled into decline.
The song "A Little More" is simply funky, yet here the past is conjured up once again. The story of the stalker from the video for the song "Lego House" (2011) is continued. Just like back then, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron from the "Harry Potter" films, takes on the role of the fan who is now released from prison, wants to find peace, but everywhere and in everyone only sees the once-stalked person. Sheeran sings the chorus from the perspective of the fan who has become too much of a fan: "Once I loved you / Now I hate you a little more every day."
But then he changes perspective—clearly visible in the video—and attacks his former stalker with such fury that the listener is startled. "I wish you'd look in the mirror, because if you did, you'd see you're the problem," he raps. "Because you're an asshole." Asshole? There seems to be a different, deeper story being told here.
Sheeran raps that he was a child back then, that he sees things differently as an adult than he did before, and that he now has to close a door. What's going on here? Who is actually being counted out? Could this part of the lyrics refer to Sheeran's previously mentioned family breakdown in "Old Phone"?
That must remain speculation. Lawyers for the record company Warner had prohibited his now 43-year-old cousin Jethro Sheeran from using the name Ed Sheeran in the re-release of the song "Raise Them Up," which they wrote together in 2010. "I no longer consider Ed family," the rapper, who goes by the name Alonestar, subsequently announced last year. And: "I wish him the best, just far away from me."
Is "A Little More" Ed Sheeran's answer? "A Little More" would have been a perfect fit for a final math album, "√ (Square Roots)" – taking square roots.
"I was never cool / but I was never a dead ringer either," Sheeran raps in "Opening," adding that he "came here to be heard." "Play," wrapped in affirmative pink, stands as a solid self-assurance in this regard. Everything's the same. Not really surprising. The album is similar to "Divide"; you could call "Play" its little brother. But Sheeran's still got it. And in April, Time magazine still called him a "superstar" in its list of the 100 most influential people of the year.
While the world is now listening to the new work, the artist has long since moved on. He revealed to the British tabloid "The Sun" that he will be finished with the follow-up album, "Rewind (Double Arrow Pointing Left)," in about two months. "Rewind"? Wasn't he just about to turn his back on the past?
Could be - and that's not something you say very often with Sheeran - exciting.
Ed Sheeran “Play” (Gingerbread Man Records/Warner) album released on September 12th
Ed Sheeran live: Mon, December 1 – Paris, Zenith; Wed, December 3 – Munich, Olympiahalle; Fri, December 5 – Coventry, Building Society Arena; Sun, December 7 – Manchester, Co-op Live; Tue, December 9 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena. In January 2026, Sheeran will kick off his "Loop" stadium tour in Australia.
rnd
