Ed Sheeran goes brutally ‘honest' in about album ‘Play (Deluxe)'

Ed Sheeran is clearing up any worry that his latest music reflects trouble at home. 

The singer, who kicked off Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard at The O2, says the emotional intensity on his Play (Deluxe) album isn’t a sign that his marriage is in danger. 

It’s simply the way he writes.

Speaking at a Spotify pop-up before his performance, Ed explained that fans sometimes assume every lyric mirrors his reality. 

But his songs are often shaped by moments of heightened feeling.

“Sometimes people listen to records today and assume that what that song is, is their world 100 per cent at the time,” he said, noting that songwriting rarely happens on an average day. 

“You always write songs like, ‘This is the most loving I’ve ever felt, this is the happiest I’ve ever felt, this is the angriest I’ve ever felt.’”

For him, those extremes are what make music meaningful. 

“They’re all like big extremities and that’s what inspires the song,” he continued. 

“I think the only time the songs will ever be created, for me at least, are in those moments of big extremes.”

During his Jingle Bell Ball set, Ed showed love for his wife Cherry by performing Heaven, one of her favorites, from the Play album. 

“I told Cherry I was singing this tonight and she told me to make sure that someone filmed it,” he told the crowd, adding that she understands he writes songs across the full emotional spectrum. 

“I think Cherry knows that she has songs like Heaven and Perfect. It’s good to be honest, and she knows that I am writing songs like Don’t Look Down and Wargames.”

Ed’s message to fans is simple, honesty in music doesn’t always equal crisis, it just means the feelings were real in that moment.