Ed Sheeran: ‘It feels like a new era of my career’ – Music News

Ed Sheeran joined Zane Lowe on New Music Daily on Apple Music 1 to discuss his brand new single “Bad Habits”. He tells Zane about how the song came to be, becoming a father and settling down, reaching out to Bono for advice, making music for himself rather than fans, appreciating his early success and approaching a new era in his career, and more.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Writing “Bad Habits”…

So Fred, who I made the tune with… Fred Again. Him and his brother… He’ll love me telling this story. Him and his brother have this dance group called Rain Radio. And their one goal is to make music so that they can eventually get like a Vegas residency and chuck cakes into the crowd. Like, they’re just like, “Let’s make the perfect dance music.” And so I kind of had reached the end of my album, we’re in the mixing stage and always for my records, the last stage is the most important. And that’s when I’d finished ‘x’ and then “Thinking Out Loud”, came by accident. I’d finished ‘÷’ and “Shape of You” came by accident. I finished ‘+’ and “Give Me Love”, came by accident. So I was like, I finished the record and I was like, I’m going to do a couple more weeks in the studio just to see what comes. And I remember talking to Fred. He was playing me, him and his brother’s tunes and I was like, “Let’s make the perfect Rain Radio tune for you guys.” And so then we started doing it and also it kind of tied into… It was just like, I’d never really written dance music properly. I’ve never really like gone put my head to it and let’s make it. And then when we finished it, I was like, “This is actually quite good.” Played it to my manager. He was like, “Let’s make this more…” Because it was really like techno, so we kind of brought it into a space where… What I loved about it is Fred’s approach to the vocals. It’s barely a whisper. No, Fred’s approach is basically just a whisper on the mic. He just said like, you’ll have this massive bassy chugging and you have this tiny vocal that you’ve made huge. Man, it works out. So, the process of actually deciding it was going to go on the album was I had the first single chosen and we were coming in June. When life is getting back to normal and you can put out this song and I want it to just lift.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Becoming a Father and Embracing A Healthier Lifestyle For His Family…

Everyone was like, “This is the best thing that’s going to happen to you.” And there’s a certain expectation that comes to it. And I think the biggest thing I took away from it was… Well, two things. The relationship that I had with my parents has completely changed, it was amazing before, but now it’s just like there’s this eternal gratefulness and respect of being like, I know what they went through and I’m still going through it. And also the other thing is no one knows what they’re doing. I see people, I’m like, “Oh my God, that guy’s the best dad in the world.” But he started off like me, like not knowing anything. I’m learning day by day. So, I think it’s amazing. My lifestyle has completely shifted. Instead of going to bed at 6:00 a.m., I’m getting up at 6:00 a.m. and well, earlier than that, but like…Oh, man, she’s jet lagged at the moment in L.A. I started exercising. I used to do everything to excess, like real excess. Like I would I would go to a restaurant and be like, “Oh, I like the look of that. And like the look of that. And like, I’ll just, I’ll eat all of that.” I loved drinking everything in sight and all the other stuff. And I just found when Cherry was six months pregnant, I was like, right at this point, water’s might break anytime and I’m just going to stop excess and just be available and be the husband that I’m meant to be. And yeah, and then from there it’s kind of been like clean, healthy living.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Avoiding Excessive Eating and Drinking…

I’ve made changes but I’ve done it in the Hollywood way of being just like, “I’ll just stop eating carbohydrates for four months” or something like that. Whereas now, like I haven’t actually changed my diet in any way, other than just stopping excess. Like I still have beer, but I won’t have 10 pints. I’ll have like three and I still have burgers, but I won’t have two, I’ll have one.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Reaching Out To Bono For Advice On Balancing Fatherhood and His Career…

When I found out Cherry was pregnant, I was like, “How do I navigate this into my career?” And I’d just watched Rattle and Hum, the YouTube doc and basically… Well, no, this is the thing. U2 played stadiums on their third record or whatever. And Bono was 28 and he finished his live tour at 29 and then had his first child and then went on to be… That was their first stadium and then they went on to have like a 30 year career of still playing stadiums. And I was like, this is the one guy I feel like…I could relate to. Yeah. So I got in touch, then we had like a three hour chat and he is the sweetest guy. And we were just having… And I’d never really bonded with him like that. And I don’t think I probably ever would have done, but there was just this… I don’t know what made him take the call, but we’re sort of having this chat and he was telling me about how he navigated being a father, like where his kids went to school and how they did tours and stuff like that. And I was just kind of taking it all in and he hung up the phone and we’d sort of ended our chat. And then I went through a deep dive of U2 on vinyl. So I bought all their records. I’d heard their records, but I’d never… It’s different sitting down with headphones, closed eyes.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Settling Down And Learning To Make Sunday roasts…

I mean, me and Cherry both come from the same county. She grew up 10 minutes away from our house at the moment. I grew up five minutes away from it. And we have been based there since the tour ended. And we have friends that live around there. Both of our parents live like really close and we’ve formed this life in… It’s not like when we lived in London before, it’s just go, go, go, go, go. There’s social things every night. It’s always like, or, then you’re out on a date, the two of you… I never really got the Sunday roast thing because that wasn’t really something I grew up with, but it’s something she grew up with and she taught me how to do a proper roast chicken, cut potatoes, make proper roast potatoes and like doing that every Sunday, getting into routine of that, having date night every Friday, like it was just… It’s wholesome, good.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Making Music To Make Himself Happy Rather Than For Fans…

I’ve always tried to make records that I want to listen to. But people always say, “Do you make music for your fan base?” And I go, “No.” If I made music for my fan base, I wouldn’t be happy. I’d be making music to appease someone else. The reason I create music and play music is essentially to make myself happy. I feel like that’s why anyone creates. If you’re like, what’s the quote, “There’s no key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” So just do you. And so for me, I was like, “What do I want to hear in the summer?” And this is exactly… I want to go to Ocean Beach in Ibiza and stand on the table and pour vodka over myself. Not as a… I’d have to ask my mum to look after Lyra, but… We’ll just wheel her in. Just have her there.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About His Approach To Releasing Albums…

I think because I try and make these albums so perfect, it just takes such a long time to put them together. I love the approach that Taylor has at the moment, and Ariana has at the moment, and that Future’s had for the last like five years. Elton John used to put out three albums a year and I think that’s where music’s heading. And I think after I’ve done this record and the next record, which have been my five album plan for the last 10, 11 years, once I’ve done that, it’s just going to be a bit more free.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Rediscovering His Early Excitement for Music…

There’s this kind of laser focus of just looking ahead. We touched on the finishing Ipswich thing and realising that it was like a big tour that had ended and stuff like that. But I think looking back at situations and wishing that I’d lived in it a little bit and appreciated what was happening at the time, it was so kind of like, “Oh, this has happened or whatever. Cool. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Whatever.” And just like going straight forward.

And now entering back into the music industry, like, I feel like I’m a new artist starting again. And I feel like hearing a record on the radio is going to give me such joy, rather than be like expected.It was getting to a point where I’d get in a car in London and turn on the radio. It would be a song. I’d be like “psh, of course”. And I never want to be like that again because that is not where you’re at when you start off music. When you first played me on the radio, I remember like all of my friends texting me being like, “This is it.” And me being buzzing and being like, “Oh my God. This is it.” And like to lose that as a musician and to lose the excitement of it, I feel like having 18 months has made me really appreciate how special it is to be able to wake up every day and grab a guitar. And that’s my living.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Performing With a Band…

I’ve always had a band when I’ve done TV. It was actually Lorne Michaels, who… I was doing SNL and I was like, “I’m going to do a loop pedal.” And he was like, “No, you’re not. You’re getting a band.” And I was like, “Okay.” So I got a band, really enjoyed it, and it actually works better for TV because you just go in and crack it out. And it’s a different atmosphere, but I’m sort of dipping my toe in because part of me goes, “I got to sell nine million tickets off the back of using a loop pedal, so people obviously like it and want to come and see it.” And the last tour we did like two or three off the back of seeing a loop pedal. So I feel like surely that’s what people like. And I look at bands like Coldplay and Rolling Stones and whoever and U2 and they don’t actually change their live set up at all. They just play new songs and have a different stage. So I’m kind of in my head, am I like, “Am I just changing stage? Am I doing something different? Am I adding new songs to the set list? Or am I doing complete whip the carpet out from everything that I know and doing…” So I’m sort of dipping my toe in and I feel like the band’s fun.

Ed Sheeran Tells Apple Music About Approaching a New Era of His Career…

I’m enjoying trying different things. It feels like a new era of my career and I don’t want it to be defined by the old eras, but then at the same time, I don’t want to take away what inherently makes me, me.

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