FILIPINO Sheerios should start manifesting for a Manila show, as English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran recently teased fans about his upcoming Asian tour next year.
In an Instagram question and answer session with the Shape of You hitmaker, a fan asked Sheeran about his plans to tour around Asia.
“Next year,” he replied.
Screengrab from Ed Sheeran’s Instagram story update (@teddysphotos)
Sheeran is currently on the United States leg of his tour to support and promote his latest album release, Subtract.
According to the 32-year-old singer, the record is his most honest album and represents the hard-hitting events he faced in recent years, which include finding out about his wife’s tumor, the sudden death of his best friend, and his copyright lawsuit.
Ed and his math symbols
Sheeran began singing at an early age. His first record The Orange Room was released in 2005.
He then moved to London in 2008 to further pursue his career in singing by playing in small venues and busking on the streets.
It was in 2011 when the singer first released an album with a mathematical equation title called + (Plus), followed by x (Multiply) in 2014, ÷ (Divide) in 2017, = (Equal) in 2021, and his latest album – (Subtract).
According to the music artist, the reason behind the album titles being math symbols is because he wants the record to stand out more than himself.
“I don’t really want to be a poster boy ever,” said Sheeran in an interview.
“I’d love to get to a point [where] there’s a billboard of just red with an equals sign, or green with a multiply, or blue with a divide, or orange with a plus, and people go, ‘Oh, Ed’s got an album coming out,’” he added.
Most of Sheeran’s albums circle around the themes of love, relationships, personal experiences, and his journey in the music industry.
+ and its follow up album x are interconnected with each other. The second album was called Multiply because it made everything in Plus bigger, “from the venues to the songs to the radio plays to the sales.”
The debut album consists of earworms like Give Me Love, Lego House, U.N.I., and The A Team. It incorporates a blend of genres such as pop, folk, hip-hop, and acoustic music that is introspective and heartfelt and showcases Sheeran’s songwriting skills.
x, on the other hand, embodies a diverse range of musical styles, including pop, folk, hip-hop, and R&B.
It features several hit singles, including Sing, Don’t, Thinking Out Loud, and Photograph. Thinking Out Loud became one of Sheeran’s most successful songs, reaching the top of the charts in multiple countries and earning him Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
÷ is a proof of Sheeran’s versatility as a musician, blending various genres such as pop, folk, R&B, hip-hop, and even elements of dancehall and Irish folk music.
The album features numerous chart-topping singles, including Shape of You, Castle on the Hill, Galway Girl, Perfect, and Happier.
Meanwhile, his fifth studio album = was released after an 18-month hiatus from music. Unlike the previous records, = heavily leans into dance-pop instead of his signature acoustic melodies.
The album is supported by five singles Bad Habits, Shivers, Overpass Graffiti, 2step, and The Joker and the Queen, which is a collaboration with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
From its name, the album pertains to the answers to the many questions in his life that the singer has acquired from the birth of his first child and the death of his friend.
The singer said in an interview that an equals symbol is the end of a question and the start of an answer.
The sixth album – is a profound album centered on grief.
According to Sheeran, this album was supposed to “sculpt the perfect acoustic album” that everybody expects from him.
However, because of the series of shattering life events he experienced, it made him rethink how he views and treats his art and music.
The unfortunate events he experienced led the singer to replace a decade’s worth of carefully written works with melodies that encompassed his “deepest darkest thoughts.”
“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out,” he said in an Instagram post.
“For the first time, I’m not trying to craft an album people will like. [Instead], I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” he added.
