Ed Sheeran reveals 'darkest nights' of his life inspired new song 'Salt Water'

Ed Sheeran opened up about how the 'darkest nights' of his life inspired his new song, Salt Water.

The 32-year-old singer is preparing to release his fifth album, Subtract, which features the dark song.

He has been sharing the meaning behind some of his new songs in his Subtract Sundays posts on Instagram.

"Salt water was written about some of the darkest nights into mornings, and the ‘what ifs’ surrounding those thoughts," he captioned his post for his 43.1 million followers.

"It was the second song me and Aaron finished for Subtract and I really feel this and Boat framed what the record was early on."

Ed is gearing up to release his fifth studio album (Instagram/teddysphotos)

He opened up about the meaning behind one of his tracks (Instagram/teddysphotos)

In the video, he said: "Salt Water is quite a dark song, it's basically playing out what the final moments would be jumping into cold salt water and feeling at 3 to 4 degrees that you're free."

Fans reacted to the post and took to the comment section, with some saying the album will break their hearts.

"I feel like Subtract will be the album to smash my heart into a million pieces then slowly put it back together again," one user said.

Another added: "I really am not sure if I'll be able to emotionally process the album."

"Wow…I honestly don’t think we are ready for how emotional this album is going to be..." one fan posted.

Earlier this month, Ed was overjoyed after making history with his fourteenth number-one single in the UK.

Ed was overjoyed after recently getting his fourteenth number one single in the UK. (Dave Benett/Getty Images)

He hit the charts after releasing his track Eyes Closed - the lead song from Subtract.

Ed managed to topple Miley Cyrus in order to reach the top spot - and also bagged himself a spot in the history books.

But living in the moment of his victory, Ed took to social media to express his excitement and happiness over his latest number-one song.

He said: "Eyes Closed is my 14th Number 1 in the UK. I’m over the bloody moon, thank you so much. I can’t wait for you to hear Subtract.

“I’m so glad you’ve connected to this song."

He added: "I never, ever take this for granted this far into my career. Thank you for everyone who’s been connecting to Eyes Closed.”

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