I woke up on the first day of 2017 to the best news imaginable: Ed Sheeran was back, and he would be releasing new music later in the week. I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing on my Twitter feed. It had been years since we'd heard new music from Ed, and over a year since he had been active on social media.
While we were all having a pretty terrible year with 2016, Sheeran was tucked away in some little studio somewhere, writing more beautiful music, and preparing himself to sweep us off our feet once again. And boy, did he.
At midnight EST on January 6th, two of his new songs were released on Spotify and Apple Music. I was awake and watching a movie, having totally forgot brand new Sheeran songs were coming out. To my utter delight, I went on Instagram mid-movie just to scroll. I saw he has posted the links to his new singles and I almost started screaming.
Now, look, I love Ed Sheeran. We all do, like a lot. But there were a lot of things that happened in 2016 that I was supposed to love and wound up hating instead. Looking at you, "Suicide Squad", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2", and 2016 presidential election results. I felt a panic inside of me. What if this was just another thing that wound up disappointing me? God, I had enough of that last year. I didn't need any more of it in 2017.
The universe was evidently listening to my concerns and taking them to heart because I freaking loved this new music. Waiting over a year to get Sheeran back was so worth it.
The two songs he released are titled "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill". The first one has a sexy pop vibe, with not a whole lot of instrumentation throughout and a beautiful chant chorus. Sheeran sounds as soulful and rich as ever. "Shape of You" is a song I'd like to hear while I'm out so I can make my way onto the floor and dance with somebody.
"Castle on the Hill" is very different, but in the best way. Sheeran croons over his childhood in this song. There are inspirational guitar bits in the background along with a smooth bass line. The narration in the lyrics are nostalgic and beautiful. It's a song I want to listen to during a long drive down the highway with the windows down.
While he hasn't posted anything as the time of writing this article about more songs being released, it's the hope that this is indicative of a new album being released sooner rather than later. And, of course, a tour throughout 2017. (You bet I'll be making my way to that show.)
The world missed Ed Sheeran a ridiculous amount. We had a really bad year without him around. Hopefully, 2017 can be less filled with terrible news stories and political disasters and more chock full of Ed Sheeran being his adorable, perfect, musical self.
