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 In a move few global pop stars have ever attempted in history, he has confirmed a posthumous album sealed in his will,  ‘Eject’, to be released only after his death. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Sheeran said: “Eject is the album in the will. It’s actually in my will, and Cherry gets to pick the tracks for it. It’s full, like it’s in there if I were to go tomorrow.”

The 13-track Play marks the first instalment in a new five-album series with titles that echo a cassette deck: Play, Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind and Stop. When recording ‘Play’, Sheeran spent a month touring India. The single, ‘Sapphire,’ was created by teaming with award-winning Indian singer and composer, Arijit Singh. In the words of Sheeran: “I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India… It’s a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish; it encapsulates everything that I love about music and the fun in it.”

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Lyrically, ‘Play’ offers a fascinating, sometimes jarring mix. The album incorporates elements of Indian and Persian culture, with a specific focus on sounds originating from instruments like tablas, bansuri flutes, the santoor, and a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origin. From tender reflections on domestic life in ‘In Other Words’ to surprising, sharp barbs aimed at a former friend in ‘A Little More’, and a direct address to his plagiarism lawsuits on the ‘Opening’ track, the album reveals interesting shades of emotions ranging from muted melancholy to vexation. The album reflects an artist grappling with his public persona versus his private realities. While it does spring surprises through the incorporation of global influences, the experimentation is not sustained, as the album soon retreats into a pop formula caught between global experimentation and familiar balladry.

‘Play’ isn’t just another Ed Sheeran album; it’s a statement of intent. By threading Persian nodes, Indian percussion, and Amy-esque horn arrangements into his trademark pop structures, Sheeran has risked alienating the comfort-zone listener to stretch his sounds, while discovering himself. Not every experiment lands; some of his global textures feel incomplete and confusing. From the calculated creative pivot of ‘Play’  to the unprecedented foresight of ‘Eject’, he is demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of how to manage an enduring artistic brand. Sheeran isn’t just releasing music; he is actively engineering a multi-generational legacy, ensuring his voice, vision, and artistic integrity will resonate far beyond his own lifetime.

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The track was first released in July 2021, and with no official video racked up nearly 20 million streams on Spotify and just over 3.5 million views on Youtube audio.

The first video for the track will feature Ed Sheeran and is set to drop on Christmas eve the 24th of December at 3 pm Nigerian time and 2 pm uk time. The trailer for the music video features Fireboy texting Ed that he is in London while Ed replies with a west London postcode as he sits in Grill shack, a restaurant and cocktail bar in west London, alongside SBTV founder Jamal Edwards. Jamal Edwards has always been involved in Ed’s career with Ed frequently appearing on the youtube channel in 2010 as his career began to take off. Jamal Edwards was also involved in Eds Bad Habits remix, which feature UK rap superstars Central Cee and Tion Wayne.

The rumours of Ed jumping on the remix of the hit single had been stirring for a few weeks with the duo both teasing its possibility, it wasn’t until a week ago when Fireboy posted up the cover art for the remix and in the last few days teased Eds added a verse for his Instagram followers to take in.

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Fireboy DML is a 25-year-old singer from Nigeria and is signed to YBNL nation, a label started by Nigerian heavyweight Olamide. The artist has been releasing music for around 4 years but it wasn’t until 2019 where the talented singer released his first project Laughter, tears and goosebumps and showcased to the world how big of talent the then 23-year-old RnB star was.

Ed Sheeran has been on a meteoric run since his return to music in July this year topping the charts 3 times with his singles “Bad Habits”,” Shivers” and “Merry Christma” featuring Elton John. This year also saw the release of his album = which debuted on the charts at number 1. Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with a Nigerian singer may seem odd but the British singer has always been a fan of collaborating with artists from different genres and backgrounds his collaboration albums show this with features from Meek Mill, 50 Cent, J Hus, Skrillex and many more. The 30-year-old has also dabbled with afrobeat artists before featuring on a track alongside Ghanaian artist Fuse ODG on the track “Boa Me” which currently sits on 60 million Spotify streams.

“Peru” by Fireboy DML featuring Ed Sheeran will be released on the 24th of December and can be pre-saved here.

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The single was released by Ed Sheeran as his comeback track and currently sits at Number 1 on the official charts following its release 6 weeks ago.

The drill inspired remix features Edmonton’s Tion Wayne, West London Central cee and one of the most influential engineers in UK rap, Fumez the engineer.

Sheeran has always been a fan of UK rap coming up on channels such as SBTV, his collaboration albums have always celebrated his love from grime and UK rap and featured artists such as P Money, Wiley, Jme, Devlin and most recently on his ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’.

The 30-year-old has been working within the UK scene for over 10 years having released his first A64  on Sbtv in 2011. The SBTV founder Jamal Edwards has been very influential in helping connect Ed with the grime scene in his early stage as well as helping set up the remix for ‘Bad Habits’ and linking up Ed with his favourite drill rapper Kwengface.

Tion Wayne is no stranger to the top of the charts, releasing the first drill song to go number one this year alongside Russ on ‘Body’. The ferocious flows and energy that he brings to a track make him a perfect representative for the UK drill scene on such as big remix.

Central Cee has recently found himself to be one of the biggest artists in the country,  having charted at number 2 with his debut project ‘Wild West’ as well as receiving 4 GRM rated awards nominations for ‘Mixtape of the year’,’ Track of the year’, ‘Breakthrough of the year’ as well as ‘Male artist of the year’. His rise didn’t come out of anywhere with the west Londoner having released music for over 6 years.

Fumez the engineer helped put a drill twist to the track, alongside the beatsbycdot and Fred again. Fumez freestyle platform ‘Plugged in with fumez’ has become one of the biggest freestyle platforms in the UK rap scene, his most notable has come from Irish group A92 whose freestyle currently sits on 33 million youtube views and North London group TPL whose freestyle has 22 million views.

The remix to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ is available to watch here:

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 Drill rapper Kwengface and pop sensation Ed Sheeran is a collaboration no one would have expected, the 30-year-old pop star has just released his chart-topping single ‘Bad Habits’ following a 7-month absence and is now linking up with drill veteran Kwengface. The rapper from Peckham has been a prevalent name in the drill scene for over 3 years and has been releasing consistent music in 2021 including a ‘plugged in w/fumez’ which currently sits on 7.4 million views.

The link-up may have come as a shock to both drill and pop fan bases but in a recent interview on capital Xtra with Yinka Bokinni and Shayna Marie, Ed Sheeran shared that he was a fan of Kwengface after being put on by longtime friend Jamal Edwards. The 4-time brit awards winner said in the interview that “He (Jamal Edwards) loves Kwengface as well, have you heard the Backroad Gee and Kwengface tune it came out last week, Jamal put me on, it’s good”

 

 

 

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 Ed Sheeran is no stranger to working with UK rappers having made his come up via channels like SBTV working alongside UK grime legends such as Devlin, P Money, Jme, Ghetts and Wretch 32, who all featured on his ‘No.5 collaborations project’ in 2011.

 While there was no confirmation of a song coming between the two, the photos sent social media into a frenzy as fans excitement grew in anticipation of what a track between the two would sound like.

It has been confirmed through recent reports that Sheeran and Seaborn are anticipating the arrival of their baby in the next few weeks. In usual circumstances, the news would be near impossible to keep under wraps for the global superstar, but the forced lockdown from the ongoing coronavirus crisis has meant that the private couple was able to keep the wonderful news quiet for the majority of Seaborn’s pregnancy.

An inside source recently divulged to The Sun that “Ed and Cherry are over the moon. They’re very excited but have kept things very low key. Lockdown was a perfect excuse not to be seen out and about too much, but things are getting closer and the excitement has been building so they have started telling friends and family.”

Seaborn, who herself has an esteemed career as a risk manager for Deloitte, the multinational accounting organisation, will start an unlimited sabbatical following the baby’s birth. A close source confirmed that “Cherry spent last year writing a monster paper for the firm on technology and digital risk. She told bosses at the firm last summer that she planned to take extended leave at the beginning of 2020.”

During motherhood, Seaborn plans to devote her career to ‘green’ projects. The mother-to-be will also be enrolling at Cambridge University to study a post-graduate degree in Sustainable Business. A keen environmentalist like her husband, Seaborn is “working to create a self-sufficient living environment” on their rambling estate, “aiming to produce sustainable energy, as well as all fruit and vegetables whilst nurturing British wildlife through rewilding farmland to wood and native meadow.” 

The inside source continued on the soon-to-be parents, confirming that “They are just making the last of the preparations at home, and the baby is expected later this summer. It’s a really happy time and their families are all totally delighted for them and cannot wait to meet the new arrival.” 

Sheeran, who has remained off of social media since he announced his hiatus from making music, has not yet commented publicly on his upcoming parentage. Sheeran signed off social media in December of 2019, writing “I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I’ve lived a little more to actually have something to write about.”

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Brb x

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Dec 24, 2019 at 4:00am PST

Born in West Yorkshire in 1991, Ed Sheeran is irrefutably one of the biggest and best artists of his generation. Bursting onto the scene with his debut album +, Sheeran has released three amazing studio albums. 

The lyrical mastermind behind global hits like Sing, Galway Girl, You Need Me, I Don’t Need You, and The A Team, Sheeran’s angelic voice, personal lyrics and signature guitar has made him one of the most recognisable faces on the planet. 

As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, Bertie Blossoms closed its doors for business in March. The latest furlough scheme implemented by the Government would see them pay 80% of an employees’ salary. The business, however, decided against the scheme.

Speaking to The Sun, a spokesperson for Ed Sheeran said: “The business, co-owned by Ed Sheeran and Stuart Camp, is not, and will not, be accessing any government scheme of any kind, including furloughing, grants, loans and so on.”

Plus, recent accounts for the restaurant allege that the business owed £1.7 million to creditors.

In December, Ed Sheeran was announced by the Official Charts Company as the UK’s ‘Artist of The Decade’. The ‘Shape Of You’ hitmaker’s list of feats includes a combined run of 12 number one albums and singles from 2010 to 2019 – more than any other artist in the country.

Secondly, Sheeran spent a record 79 weeks in the top spot of both the album and singles charts. ‘Shape Of You’ spent 14 weeks at the top, selling more than 4.5m copies, and was streamed 2.3 billion times via Spotify.

“Thank you to everyone who’s supported me over the past 10 years, especially my amazing fans. Here’s to the next 10!” Sheeran said. Spotify also announced recently that Sheeran was one of the most-streamed acts of the 2010s.

Yesterday, Boris Johnson warned that the UK lockdown must continue to prevent a second wave of infections. Since his recovery from COVID-19, it was the Prime Minster’s first public address to the country outside 10 Downing Street.

The Chainsmokers and Halsey’s collaboration ‘Closer’ took fourth and Sheeran’s second track, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, took fifth.

Other artists featured in the top ten included a second from Drake with ‘God’s Plan’. Elsewhere, Camila Cabello and Young Thug, Luis Fonsi, Major Lazer, and Justin Bieber rounded off the top ten.

‘Shape Of You’ currently holds over 2.3 billion streams on Spotify. According to figures gathered from Digital Music News, Spotify dishes out £0.0034 for every listen. This is more than Napster, Amazon, and Youtube offer.

Sheeran further features on the list in the eleventh spot with ‘Perfect’, which has currently grossed a sum of £4.2 million.

In August 2019, Sheeran was blocked from receiving royalties on ‘Shape Of You’ following claims of “appropriating” music from others. The case has been postponed until 2020. High Court Documents show artist Sam Chroki made claims against Ed about the chorus of ‘Shape Of You’, and of it’s similarities to his own 2015 song, ‘Oh Why’.

In December, Ed Sheeran was announced by the Official Charts Company as the UK’s ‘Artist of The Decade’.

“Thank you to everyone who’s supported me over the past 10 years, especially my amazing fans. Here’s to the next 10!” Sheeran said. Spotify also announced recently that Sheeran was one of the most-streamed acts of the 2010s.

Chief executive of the Official Charts Company, Martin Talbot hailed his achievements as “genuinely remarkable”.

He further added. “Today, he is firmly established among the highest level of global music superstars.”

In November, Stormzy released his single, ‘Own It’, featuring Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran, lifted from ‘Heavy Is The Head’. The album was released on December 13.