Ed Sheeran has shared his first single of the year, the EDM-influenced ‘Bad Habits’.
The new track is a far cry from much of Sheeran’s previous work, experimenting in more electronic and dance sounds, anchored by pulsating synths and thumping bass.
Sheeran has also unveiled the song’s music video, where he plays a pink-suited vampire, wreaking havoc in a crowded street with some supernatural friends.
Watch the music video below:
‘Bad Habits’, written alongside previous collaborators Fred again.. and Snow Patrol‘s Johnny McDaid, is the first solo song Sheeran has dropped since last year and is set to appear on his new album.
While it hasn’t been confirmed what Sheeran’s forthcoming album is titled, it is expected to be called ‘Minus (-)’.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Sheeran confirmed that he’s had a “five album plan” for at least a decade, and all the album titles in the plan are featured on Ipswich Town’s kits that he sponsored.
‘Bad Habits’ is the first single Sheeran has released since he dropped standalone track ‘Afterglow’ in 2020.
In the interview with Lowe, Sheeran explains that he dropped ‘Afterglow’ partly as a way to appease fans who craved songs that sounded like his earlier material.
“For years (the fans) were like ‘Yeah we want stuff to sound like the first album again, give us ‘Plus’!” Sheeran said. “So I put out ‘Afterglow’ at Christmas just as a kind of…’here you go’ and the reaction was ‘eh’.”
He went on to say, “People liked it but it was like ‘this is just what you’ve done before’.”
Sheeran’s last album ‘Divide’ dropped in 2017, though his last full-length release ‘No.6 Collaborations Project’ came in 2019, and saw him team up with the likes of Stormzy, Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, Cardi B and more.
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