Ed Sheeran is “embarrassed” by the songs he releases.
The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker will release his new album, ‘=’, on Friday (29.10.21), and has revealed he always finds his music “embarrassing” when he’s writing it, because it comes from such a personal place.
But Ed says if a song doesn’t make him feel wary about putting it out into the world, then he knows it’s not a good enough track.
Speaking to Zane Lowe during Apple Music’s exclusive ‘First Listen: Ed Sheeran’ livestream on Thursday (28.10.21), he said: “When I record them, they’re mine. They’re all my thoughts and emotions put into songs, and they’re largely quite embarrassing things in my mind that I’m putting down into writing.
“If a song doesn’t make me go, ‘Oh I don’t wanna put that out’, then I shouldn’t be putting it out. If it makes me feel embarrassed to release it, it’s the right song to do.”
Ed, 30, went on to explain that feeling embarrassed about his lyrics helps him know that a track is good because he knows that other people will find comfort in his words.
He added: “Always, when I hear songs that I love, there’s lines that they say where you go, ‘That’s exactly what I’m thinking, but I would never say that’.
“So that’s what I try to do with song writing. Sometimes I write a line and I go, ‘Oh that’s silly, why am I saying that’, and that’s the magic in song writing.”
But once his songs are released, Ed no longer feels the same emotional attachment to them as he did in the studio.
One track on his new album, titled ‘Visiting Hours’, deals with the passing of his close friend Michael Gudinski who passed away in March this year, and Ed says the song doesn’t make him feel emotional anymore because it “is so important to so many other people now”.
He said: “So when I write the songs they’re very personal to me, but then when I release them, they belong to everyone and therefore they’re not mine any more.
“I got asked if I get emotional playing ‘Visiting Hours’ at shows now, and I don’t. I honestly don’t, because that song is so important to so many other people now, so I don’t feel like that song is mine to hold.
“I’ve got loads of other songs that are unreleased that are my songs to hold, but all of these songs that are out there [belong to everyone].”
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