Ed Sheeran has spoken about the heartbreaking meaning of his new single Eyes Closed from his upcoming album.
The singer, 32, wrote tracks for his much anticipated album, Subtract, following the death of best friend Jamal Edwards in February 2022, who founded the music platform SBTV which helped launch Ed's career.
Jamal's death at the age of 31 came shortly after Ed's wife of four years, Cherry Seaborn, was told by doctors while six months pregnant that she needed surgery for a tumour that could not take place until after she had given birth to the couple’s second child.
His new single, out today, is about "losing someone", the megastar said.
He went on: "Feeling like every time you go out and you expect to just bump into them, and everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together. You sorta have to take yourself out of reality sometimes to numb the pain of loss, but certain things just bring you right back into it."
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The music video was inspired by the bedtime stories Ed reads his two young daughters, Lyra and Jupiter, and sees the singer on a night out and followed by a blue monster. Ed is unable to shake it, wherever he goes, reminding him of the void that’s left in his life.
Explaining the concept of the video, Ed said: "I wanted to make a video inspired by movies like Harvey, where the main character has an imaginary friend who’s a giant rabbit that no one can see. There’s also a book I read my daughters where sadness is encapsulated by an imaginary creature.
"Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfing the rooms you’re in, and you can feel and see it, but no one else around you can. So, I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video.
"He gets bigger and bigger as the video goes on, ‘til he takes up whole rooms, and is all I can see, just like sadness."
Ed sought therapy after feeling like "I didn't want to live anymore", after Cherry's diagnosis and Jamal's death.
He told Rolling Stone: "I felt like I didn’t want to live any more. And I have had that throughout my life.
"You’re under the waves drowning. You’re just sort of in this thing. And you can’t get out of it.
"I’ve always had real lows in my life. But it wasn’t really till last year that I actually addressed it."
Cherry carried their daughter Jupiter to term and had successful surgery in June, but the Photograph singer says he felt "so powerless" at the time.
Earlier this week, a trailer for Ed's Disney+ docuseries was released, with Ed documenting the pain he's gone through.
He said: "Loss, it just took over my life. Every time something massive happened I tend to write a song about it."
Subtract is due to be released on May 5.
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