English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran on Friday released his eighth studio album Play, describing it as a ‘celebration of love, life, culture, exploring, creativity and technicolour’.
“Play is the album that’s made me fall in love with fun again. Writing and recording Subtract was so cathartic but also so heavy...Play celebrates love, life, culture, exploring, creativity and technicolour. I’ve loved making this record and the last six months have been just what I needed to get back into the swing of things - to reheat my love for pop, and popping up,” the 34-year-old artiste captioned his post on Instagram.
Sheeran thanked his fans and collaborators and added that he was extremely proud of his new album.
“It’s an album I’m immensely proud of, and just makes me feel good. I hope it does the same for you. Thank you to all my insanely talented collaborators, and all the fans along the journey who have been at all our pop ups. More to come. Play is out now, lemme know in the comments what your fav song is,” he wrote.
The post also includes behind-the-scenes clips from the album’s recording sessions.
Play consists of 13 tracks — Opening, Azizam, Old Phone, Symmetry, Camera, In Other Words, A Little More, Slowly, Don't Look Down, The Vow, For Always, Sapphire and Heaven. It is also the first album from Sheeran's planned five-symbol-themed series, with titles based on electronic media buttons such as Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, and Stop.
For Sapphire, Sheeran sang verses in Hindi and Punjabi with Indian playback singer Arijit Singh. The music video of A Little More features Harry Potter star Rupert Grint.