Ed Sheeran has revealed that he has already got another new album ready to go, ahead of releasing his next record, ‘Play’, this week.
The follow-up to 2023’s ‘Autumn Variations’ is due to arrive this Friday (September 12), and will feature the singles ‘A Little More’, ‘Azizam’, ‘Old Phone’ and ‘Sapphire’.
Sheeran previously revealed that his next four LPs would be titled ‘Pause’, ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Rewind’ and ‘Stop’. He has also shared plans to record an album to be released after his death, ‘Eject’.
These will follow his collection of albums inspired by mathematical symbols: ‘Plus’, ‘Multiply’, ‘Divide’, ‘Subtract’ and ‘Equals’.
Now, Sheeran has been quoted by The Sun‘s ‘Bizarre’ column as saying: “I made ‘Play’ and ‘Rewind’ at the same time, and we finished ‘Play’ first because it felt like the most exciting one.
“So ‘Rewind’ is, I’d say, two months off being totally locked and loaded and ready to go.”
As for when fans could expect his next record to arrive, Sheeran said: “I guess at some point in the next 18 months it will come out.”
Sheeran also described ‘Play’ and ‘Rewind’ as “twin albums”, but explained that they are different from one another: “They’re very much like twin albums. But one lent more into Indian culture and one lent more into nostalgia. So they veered off in different directions.”
When asked whether he had struggled to whittle down the tracks for ‘Rewind’, he responded: “Weirdly no, because each song has a purpose.”
He continued: “With each album you have the songs you think are the singles, and then in the gaps… basically you have to do purposeful songs rather than having 10 singles.
“You do a song like ‘Azizam’ and a song like ‘Sapphire’, but then a song like ‘Old Phone’ and ‘A Little More’. I feel like they give the album a journey and purpose rather than it just being bangers.”
Earlier this year, Sheeran revealed that ‘Play’ “was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life”. Talking about it’s creation, he explained: “Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolour, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring.
“I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India, and had some of the most fun, explorative, creative days of my life.”
He had previously promised to release new music “every sort of two, three weeks”, and said ‘Play’ was “definitely different” to his past projects. “I think I’ve been more explorative with this album,” Sheeran explained. “I kind of had an attitude of ‘Why the fuck not?’”
Meanwhile, Ed Sheeran has announced a UK and European arena tour for this winter – including shows in Manchester and Dublin.
