Ed Sheeran dropped his latest single “Old Phone,” this week, and with it, he opened up in a deeply personal way, sharing a carousel of throwback photos and the emotional story behind the song’s creation.
To promote the release, Sheeran launched a new Instagram account called @teddysoldphone, filled with old pictures found on a phone he hadn’t touched in nearly a decade. The first post shows a younger Sheeran making a goofy face and throwing up a rock hand gesture, followed by snapshots with Taylor Swift, his wife Cherry Seaborn, Benny Blanco, and a heartfelt note dated November 4, 2015.
In a lengthy caption, Sheeran reflected on how the song came to life. “I got rid of my phone in 2015 and moved onto email full time. I just turned my phone off December ’15 and that was it,” he explained. But during a recent lawsuit, the court ordered him to turn over old devices—leading him to power up his long-forgotten phone.
“The first message was from my friend Jamal Edwards, who had recently passed away. The second was from my ex-girlfriend. The third from a family member I haven’t spoken to in a decade,” Sheeran wrote. “It felt like a time capsule.”
The experience left him overwhelmed with emotion as he read messages from lost friends and viewed photos of people he once held close. That night, at 2 a.m. in India, Sheeran poured his feelings into “Old Phone” and recorded it the next morning. He says the song would’ve fit on his debut album, but he couldn’t have written it without living through life’s toughest losses.
“I hope it finds some emotion in you too. Maybe it makes you switch on your old phone and have a look at where you were a decade ago,” he added.
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Among the nostalgic photos posted on the @teddysoldphone account is a playful nod to his longtime friend Taylor Swift: a jar of jam she once gifted him, labeled in her handwriting, “Yo Ed — I’m really happy 4 you and I’m gonna let u finish but this is the best JAM OF ALL TIME – T.”
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In addition to releasing “Old Phone,” Ed also dropped details about his upcoming album, “Play.”
He wrote on Instagram, “Play was an album that was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life. Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolour, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India, and had some of the most fun, explorative creative days of my life. It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish, it encapsulates everything that I love about music, and the fun in it, but also where I am in life as a human, a partner, a father. Going into this album campaign I said to myself ‘I just want everything I do to be fun and playful’ – so that’s why we are building pubs for folk jams, doing gigs on open top busses and singing in pink cowboy hats on bars. The older I get the more I just want to enjoy things, and savour the moments that are mad and chaotic. You can preorder play now, many many more playful things to come before it’s out.”
Play comes out on September 12th.
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