Music
How Ed Sheeran navigated life-changing year ahead of new album
The singer detailed how his wife’s tumour diagnosis and the death of friend Jamal Edwards shaped his upcoming album, ‘Subtract’.
Ed Sheeran’s new album, ‘-’ (pronounced Subtract), will be released on May 5. The singer says he was working on the project for a decade, but that a series of events in 2022 changes his view on music and art.
Sheeran’s wife was diagnosed with a tumor
The singer shared a diary entry on Twitter, which was photographed by Annie Liebowitz, to announce the new album.
Sheeran says he spiralled into depression last year after his wife was diagnosed with a tumour while pregnant, and that his friend Jamal Edwards died unexpectedly at 31.
“I had been working on ‘Subtract’ for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art,” he wrote.
“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.
“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route for treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly, and I found myself in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter.”
Sheeran married his childhood sweetheart, Cherry Seaborn, in 2019. The couple welcomed their second daughter in May 2022.
Music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards passed away in February 2022. His last Instagram was a birthday message for Sheeran.
Sheeran says struggles inspired his new album
Despite the personal struggles he went through in 2022, Sheeran says that the tribulations inspired him while working on his upcoming album.
“It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” he said.
“This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is ‘Subtract’.”
The album is set for release on May 5 and is already available for pre-order.