New music from Ed Sheeran: Singer announces new single 'Afterglow'

The British singer has said it is 'not the first single from the next album' but a 'Christmas present'

Ed Sheeran has given fans an early Christmas gift, with his song, 'Afterglow', which he teased on Instagram before releasing. Getty Images 

Fans of Ed Sheeran, 29, are celebrating getting an early Christmas gift after the British singer shared a new song on Instagram.

"Hey guys. Afterglow is a song I wrote last year that I wanted to release for you," he wrote. "It's not the first single from the next album, it's just a song I love, and hope you love too. Enjoy! Have a safe and happy festive break and New Year's. Back to dad land for me now, ciao x"

The British pop star took to Instagram on Sunday, December 20 to tease fans, by announcing: "11am GMT tomorrow. A Christmas present", leading to speculation that a new album was on its way.

The announcement was accompanied by colourful paint splatter artwork, reminiscent of the works of Jackson Pollock. However, although the song isn't from Sheeran's next album, fans are still delighted with the distinctly cottagecore melody.

Long-awaited album

Sheeran's last album was 2019's No.6 Collaborations Project, which was his fourth studio album. Prior to that, the singer-songwriter had released + in 2011, x in 2014, and ÷ in 2017. All of his albums have gone to No 1 one in the UK and Australia, while x, ÷ and No.6 Collaborations Project hit the No 1 spot in the US. His first album reached No 5.

The singer had been mostly quiet on social media this year, with his last update back in September about his wife Cherry Seaborn having given birth to their first child, daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.

“A quick message from me as I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you," he wrote. “Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Lots of love and I’ll see you when it’s time to come back."

Creativity flourishing in isolation

The four-time Grammy winner joins his close friend Taylor Swift in having been bitten by the creative bug while in lockdown.

Swift caused the Internet and her legion of fans to go into collective meltdown when she released not one, but two albums this year, Folklore in July and Evermore earlier this month.

Paul McCartney released his 18th solo album, McCartney III on December 18, which features 11 new songs. And not to be outdone by his former bandmate, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr also released new music that was created in quarantine, with his five-song record, Zoom In, which features contributions from McCartney, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Finneas.

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Read more: 

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