Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has finally made his music comeback with a surprise Christmas present. The singer hadn’t released any music after dropping his fourth studio album, No.6 Collaborations Project. He announced back in Christmas 2019 that he would be taking a break from making music and will travel, read, and write. The Shape of You hitmaker had been non-stop since 2017, so he planned to take a breather.
The 29-year-old announced the return through a cryptic post in his official Instagram account. Ed posted a photo with a caption, mentioning a time — 11 am GMT, Monday — followed by a text that writes a Christmas present. He then again made a post where he sat down and played his guitar. Fans quickly realised that their beloved singer is going to release his new single in nearly 18 months.
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However, there wasn’t an official confirmation that the singer would be dropping a new single on Monday. But the radio station, Power Radio, later reported that the singer is indeed releasing a new song on Monday. The radio station also revealed the title of Ed’s new single, The Afterglow in a tweet on Sunday.
The song is indeed titled Afterglow, which according to Ed is a song that he loves.
Fans quickly began speculating that the new song is the first single from his new album. Ed himself cleared that the song isn’t a single from his next album and in the process hinted the arrival of the new album. Ed’s manager previously mentioned in the podcast that the singer’s new album will be Subtract, which will drop potentially in August 2021. Afterglow was meant to announce his return to music and he will now work for the next album.
Ed Sheeran recently became a dad with his partner, Cherry Seaborn. Seaborn gave birth to their first child, a baby girl in September 2020. The duo named their newborn baby Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, in which Ed named Lyra from the main character of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
