Ed Sheeran has revealed that his wife was diagnosed with a tumor while pregnant and that he suffered from “fear, depression and anxiety” as he dealt with her diagnosis as well as the death of his close friend Jamal Edwards.
The British superstar opened up about the struggles he faced in 2022 in a statement confirming details of his new album, saying “a series of events changed my life, my mental health and ultimately the way I viewed music and art ». .
SheeranThe 32-year-old said his wife Cherry Seaborn was told by doctors she had a tumor while pregnant with their second child, who was born in May, with “no way of treatment until after the birth”.
Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn pictured at a soccer match in 2021. Photo: Zabulon Laurent/ABACA/Shutterstock
Around the same time, music entrepreneur Edwardswho founded the music platform SBTV that helped launch the singer-songwriter’s career, died in February aged 31.
In March, Sheeran faced a legal battle after two songwriters claimed his 2017 hit Shape Of You infringed copyright of their song Oh Why. He later won the case, but spoke about how it had affected him.
His upcoming album is titled – (Subtraction) and follows previous math-inspired entries + (Plus), × (Multiplication), ÷ (Division) and = (Equal).
Sheeran said that he was influenced by the difficult events he had gone through when writing the songs and that he scrapped his original work.
“I worked on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be,” he said.
“Then, in early 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.”
“My Deepest Dark Thoughts”
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Sheeran, from Suffolk, said writing songs is “my therapy”.
He continued: “It helps me understand my feelings. I wrote without thinking about what the songs were going to be, I just wrote whatever came crashing down. And in a little over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest, darkest thoughts”.
The star went on to talk about the events of 2022 that led to his new job. “Within a month, my pregnant wife was told she had a tumor, with no way to treat it until after delivery,” he said.
“My best friend Jamal, my brother, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and my songwriting career. I was going through fear, depression and anxiety.
“I felt like I was drowning, with my head below the surface, looking up but unable to come up for air.”
Sheeran did not elaborate on Seaborn’s condition. The couple, who married in 2019, announced the birth of their second daughter in Maysaying he was “over the moon”.
The star teamed up with The National’s Aaron Dessner, who collaborated Taylor SwiftHis lockdown records Folklore and Evermore, to help write and produce the album, which is set to be released on May 5.
“This is my way of making sense of it”
Jamal Edwards died in February 2022
In his statement, Sheeran said he didn’t feel he could release an album that didn’t “accurately” represent his current situation and the challenges he’s faced.
He described the record as having “opened the hatch to my soul” and added: “For the first time I’m not trying to make an album that people will like, I’m just putting out something that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.
“This is last February’s journal entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtraction.”
Read more:
‘Light Up the Room’: Jamal Edwards’ Mother and Stars Pay Tribute
‘I wish Jam was here to see it’: Sheeran shares music video made by late friend
‘There are only so many notes’: Sheeran releases statement after copyright win
The album cover shows Sheeran’s face paired with a broken and broken heart. Track titles include Boat, Salt Water, Life Goes On, Colourblind and No Strings, with the album closing with the track The Hills Of Aberfeldy – a reference to the Scottish market town, which he has visited many times.
The announcement was accompanied by images taken by acclaimed American photographer Annie Leibovitz, showing the star being swept by the waves and hunched over a desk at night.