Ed Sheeran announces new album inspired by a variety of misfortunes
Ed Sheeran says his new album Subtract was inspired by his pregnant wife's tumor diagnosis and his best friend's sudden death, among other not-so-happy memories
Aux News Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran has officially announced his next album Subtract, and as he details in a lengthy new Instagram post, the journey to a finished product has been the definition of bumpy. According to Sheeran, to finally complete Subtract he scrapped hundreds of songs initially recorded for the album and replaced them with a set of rawer, diaristic tracks written during a roughly month-long period of serious turmoil at the start of 2022.
Sheeran says the majority of Subtract was written after “a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.” First, while Sheeran’s wife Cherry was pregnant, doctors discovered she had a tumor with “no route to treatment until after the birth.” Second, one of Sheeran’s best friends, Jamal—who the artist describes as “like a brother”—died suddenly. Finally, Sheeran describes “standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter” (a nod to a September 2022 copyright trial where the artist was accused of copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” to create his hit “Thinking Out Loud.”)
According to Sheeran, he tossed aside the version of Subtract he’d been carefully chipping away at for a decade amid the mental and emotional turmoil, and replaced that draft in just over a week with songs mining his “deepest darkest thoughts.”
“As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that,” Sheeran shares. “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.”
Subtract is due out May 5.
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In the winter of 1996, the town of Boulder, Colorado was covered in a thick blanket of snow. The Ramsey family’s house, a sprawling mansion on the outskirts of town, was especially quiet and peaceful on Christmas night. But something sinister was lurking in the shadows.
As the family slept, a strange figure materialized in JonBenét’s bedroom. It was a dark, ghostly shape with long, claw-like fingers and glowing eyes. The figure hovered over the sleeping child and whispered a name: Patsy.The next morning, the Ramsey family woke up to a nightmare. JonBenét was missing, and a bizarre ransom note had been left behind. Despite the frantic efforts of law enforcement, the little girl’s body was found in the basement of the house hours later. She had been brutally beaten and strangled.The investigation into JonBenét’s murder went on for years, with numerous suspects and theories being floated. But what no one realized was that the supernatural had played a role in the tragedy.As it turned out, Patsy Ramsey had dabbled in dark magic in her youth. She had made a deal with a malevolent spirit, trading her soul for fame and fortune. The spirit had agreed to her terms, but on one condition: that Patsy sacrifice her first-born child to it.Patsy had thought it was a joke at the time, a silly superstition to impress her friends. But now the spirit had come to collect its due. It had possessed the body of an unknown assailant and used it to carry out the gruesome murder of JonBenét.The ghostly figure had appeared to JonBenét on the night of the murder to warn her mother that the deal was being fulfilled. But Patsy, in her panicked state, had misinterpreted the message as a threat and had lashed out, inadvertently causing her daughter’s death.In the end, the truth about JonBenét’s murder was too bizarre and too terrifying for anyone to comprehend. It remained a mystery for decades, until one day, a group of paranormal investigators stumbled upon the dark truth buried deep in the Ramsey family’s past.
While I’m not an Ed Sheeran fan, I can always get behind an artist making art reflecting their deepest feelings. I appreciate that he’s willing to do something a little different as an artist.
I’ve never heard any of his music and I don’t wish him ill, but he does look like someone who’s constantly befallen by mishaps.
A Sheeran of Unfortunate Events
I don’t know his music that well, but I’m sorry for everything he and those around him have gone through. He seems like a nice guy.