Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About His New Album ‘=’
Ed Sheeran joined Zane Lowe live from his home for an exclusive Apple Music ‘First Listen’ event. During the livestream he discussed his brand new album ‘=’ and played fans a selection of tracks for the first time.
Speaking with Zane Lowe, Ed revealed his close relationship with Elton John and shared that he calls him everyday, reflected on the importance of honest songwriting and how ‘uncomfortable’ that has been for people close to him, discussed how major life events including the loss of close friend Michael Gudinski have changed his outlook on life, and more.
Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Quarantining And Not Cancelling
I hate letting people down and… I rarely, rarely, rarely ever cancel. I only cancelled gigs from breaking my arms and then one time there was a thunderstorm in Hong Kong… but I rarely, rarely cancel s*** but it was quite heavy at the beginning of the week and I’ve rested a lot, a lot of vitamin C and zinc and D and these pills and I feel a lot better now.
Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Writing During The Pandemic
I was sort of writing songs anyway and then the pandemic hit. And I sort of took the stillness aspect of it and I did a bit of painting.
I did some carpentry, made my daughter’s stuff for her bedroom and then I sort of had the itch, I think. And started trying to write a song a day.
And out of those—I probably wrote 20 songs in the space of, like, 20 days, every single day I’d wake up and write a song.
Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About the Emotional Aftermath of His Record Breaking Tour…
I walk off stage and I’m 28 and I’m sitting in my dressing room and I’m like “That’s it and it’s downhill from here.” I kind of had a month of figuring out if I was OK with it going downhill.
And then for the rest of that time it was actually coming to peace with it’s not actually being downhill or bigger it’s not trying to be, like, I’m going out on this tour and I’m not trying to beat my record at all, that’s not on my agenda.
I’m not trying to put this album out and sell more copies and divide, it’s not about that at all anymore….It’s about looking at someone like Elton John or a band like Coldplay who I hugely admire… So my view of career now is less about more, more, bigger, bigger, I need to do this because I haven’t done this, it’s more about just like right, I made a really, really great body of work that I love and I really want people to hear this.
Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About An Unreleased Album From 2017…
I made an entire record for a movie soundtrack in 2017 and it’s beautifully made and I did it in a day with Nashville players, I wrote the songs and I went in acoustically with a classical guitar and I recorded my bits and then I went in with Nashville players and I played it in one day, done.
It’s there and it’s all right, like, it probably would have worked just putting it out. I can do that, I can do that tomorrow. That doesn’t excite me. Like, this excites me [‘=‘]. I’ve, like, honed and crafted these songs over the course of, like, four years.
I’ve made what I think is a perfect album… I mean, I would love to put out the record I made at Blackbird in Nashville, but it’s just, I think the moment’s passed but I do that all the time.
All the time I write a bunch of songs and then I get a bunch of players together and then I record it and then it just sits there and it’s, like, for me, that’s not a challenge.
