What was a seemingly routine assembly quickly turned into a once in a lifetime opportunity for the children at Fairlight, as Ed Sheeran emerged to sing his hits: Shape of You, Perfect, and Bad Habits. Following his personal performance, he stayed for a discussion with the children about the importance of music education, and how much it has benefited him and his career. The 33 year old was even kind enough to donate five of his own guitars in hope to inspire a new generation of musicians, and to emphasise the importance of music education and the opportunities it can bring.

The headteacher, Mr Jordan, said that staff and students were completely unaware of this event, and he himself had only found out the day before, telling the BBC that “I was told that a famous singer wanted to see the music classes at the school.

Create Music, a Brighton-based project ran by the Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, were the organisers of this event. Their aims are to provide inclusive music education, which Ed Sheeran was advocating for whilst speaking to numerous students during his visit.

This impromptu performance is not the first in Sheeran’s career. He is quite well known for doing spontaneous gigs far away from the shining lights and screams of huge stadiums, that he is used to performing in. Only last November, he was found making an appearance in Suffolk at The Rumburgh Buck, and even earlier last year he shocked fans by showing up on their doorstep, ready to provide a personal performance in their living room as part of the promotion for his new album ‘Autumn Variations’.

The headteacher Mr Jordan, talking to BBC, added that they “are so grateful for his support and for the generous donation of instruments to help other budding musicians on their way.”

Sheeran exclusively said to Official Charts: Thank you so much for making Autumn Variations the Official Number 1 album in the UK. “It’s my first album on my own record label [Gingerbread Man Records], so this means more than any other award I’ve had. Thanks for all the support; it’s been amazing to get reconnected with the fans over the past few months.”  

He continued: “I hope you continue liking the album, and I’ll see you next year for the next one!”   

The international hit-maker took to his Instagram to express his gratitude for the achievement. He wrote: “Thanks so much for making Autumn Variations #1, I had no expectations for the record other than for fans to love it and feel it was their own. It being on my own label meant it didnt have the usual pressures or expectations, but to end up going #1 is mad and I really don’t take it for granted. Thank you for everyone connecting with the album. It’s been so wonderful spending so much time with all you lot over the past month. See you next year when we press play on some big pop stuff finally x.”  

Fans of the “Eyes Closed” singer congratulated the musician in the comments. One person said: “Autumn is so wonderful” whilst another person commented: “I love how it doesn’t matter what he makes under what label it is released, it always ends up No. 1 in the UK.” Pop duo Jedward, who appeared on the X Factor in 2009, said: “Boss rocking it on your own label.” 

Watch the music video for “Eyes Closed.”

“Autumn Variations” also topped the charts in Germany, Australia and the Netherlands.

The record has received a positive reception from critics. James Hall from The Telegraph rated the album four out of five stars and said: “Sheeran sounds like a supercharged David Gray. Grown-up. Energized. Forget Autumn, this feels like an album of bright new dawns.”  

As well as achieving his seventh number one album, Sheeran was also nominated at the annual MTV EMAs, which are set to air on 5 November. The pop-star also became the first British solo act to achieve 10 billion UK streams and was awarded with a Gold Brit Billion Award.

He said: “Each record before I’ve done, like, all the big going in and doing all these radio interviews, and going on the late-night shows, and doing, doing all this stuff. And this record, there’s not even a single for it. There’s not, there’s not a music video. I’m just putting it out”.  

The project is the first in line for Sheeran as an independent release, after the singer founded Gingerbread Man Records a few years ago. The superstar, who has more than 75 million monthly listeners on Spotify, explained that there is less pressure working independently.  

The “Bad Habits” singer said: “I wanna put out an independent record. And also, like, I’ve had 12, 13 years of the, being a pop star, and having the pressure of it has to sell this week one, you have to have this hit single, you have to have this. And part of me goes, ‘Why?’”

Listen to “Bad Habits”, below.

He continued: “Everything has to be the biggest and best every time, and then better the next time. I think that’s part of the independent thing, that takes away the pressure. There are no expectations because there’s no company. You have to live with it. You have to be like, ‘I don’t care what people think.”  

Autumn Variations is the seventh studio album released by the “Lego House” singer and comes after the smash success of his previous album Subtract, which was released earlier this year. Subtract, which has been certified Gold in the UK for selling over 100,000 copies, produced the hits “Eyes Closed” and “Boat.”

The hitmaker announced Autumn Variations this summer and explained the inspiration behind the record. He said on Instagram: “Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded.” 

He continued, “When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.” 

Fans of the singer can listen to the record now.  

In a post on the singer’s Instagram page, he shared a video of him performing his song “Wake Me Up” from his 2011 album + in the living room of an overwhelmed and excited fan.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)

Sheeran said in his post “So I did some surprise pop up gigs in fans houses, secretly recording a live version of Autumn Variations where each song is recorded in a different fans living room, but all of it was a total surprise.” The Instagram teaser also revealed that “The fan living room live Autumn Variations album coming soon, proper album out September 29th go preorder you legends x”.

The pop star’s upcoming seventh album is produced by Aaron Dessner of American band The National, who also worked with Sheeran on his album - (Subtract) which was released in May and marked the end of the singer’s so-called “mathematical era”. In a statement via Rolling Stone, Sheeran spoke on working with Dessner, stating “When I recorded ‘-’ (‘Subtract’) with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”.

It is said that Sheeran’s upcoming Autumn Variations is inspired by a piece of 19th century orchestral work by composer Edward Elgar, titled Enigma Variations.

Sheeran will be promoting his new album by performing Autumn Variations in full at London’s Royal Albert Hall this November. Tickets are available here.

Recording the live version of Autumn Variations is not the only surprise the “Eyes Closed” singer has given fans recently. Last week, the musician surprised two fans in Las Vegas by giving an unplanned performance at their wedding. For their special day, Sheeran performed the song “Magical” from his upcoming LP. The singer uploaded this moment to his Instagram, with the caption “Crashed a wedding, this is Magical x”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)

You can preorder Autumn Variations here.

Tour dates:

18/11/2023 – Royal Albert Hall – London

19/11 – Royal Albert Hall – London

The LP, titled Autumn Variations, sees the “Bad Habits” hitmaker reunite with multi-instrumentalist and super-producer Aaron Dessner of The National, together with whom Sheeran first worked on Subtract. 

Following a series of mysterious Instagram posts teasing new music last week, the singer finally confirmed fan speculations in a video announcement posted to his socials:

“Hello everyone, the sun is shining, but autumn is coming. I have an announcement: I have an album that I’ve made called Autumn Variations. This is a record that I was sort of making at the same time as Subtract – it’s what me and Aaron went in originally to make. […]”

Sheeran revealed that the title of the new album was inspired by classical composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. “He did 14 songs about 14 friends, so I wanted to make 14 songs about 14 friends and base it on autumn.” 

In his video description, the prolific songwriter further elaborated on his decision to centre the album around an autumnal theme:

“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded. When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”

Check out the album artwork below:

Autumn is finally coming! Autumn Variations, the new album, will be released on 29th September.

Pre-order & pre-save nowhttps://t.co/KTL8XSvxkR pic.twitter.com/B3LhoLjElZ

— Ed Sheeran HQ (@edsheeran) August 24, 2023

Sheeran went on to credit his father and brother for introducing him to Elgar and the idea of writing 14 songs for 14 friends, before acknowledging Dessner’s contributions to the new project:

“When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

The new album comes as Sheeran approaches the end of his record-breaking Mathematics Tour, which wraps up on September 23 in Los Angeles – just under a week before Autumn Variations hits stores worldwide. View the new track-list below:

1. “Magical”
2. “England”
3. “Amazing”
4. “Plastic Bag”
5. “Blue”
6. “American Town”
7. “That’s On Me”
8. “Page”
9. “Midnight”
10. “Spring”
11. “Punchline”
12. “When Will I Be Alright”
13. “The Day I Was Born”
14. “Head > Heels”

Pre-order Autumn Variations here.