May 2 (UPI) — Ed Sheeran is back with new music.
The pop singer, 34, performed the song “Old Phone” Thursday on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon after releasing the song and its lyric video.
Sheeran told host Jimmy Fallon the song was inspired by his experience of going through an old smart device.
“It was like going into a time machine,” he said. “Like, the first text was my friend that had passed away the year before. The second text was like an argument with an ex-girlfriend. The third text was a family member I hadn’t spoken to in 10 years … Scrolling down, it really, really spun me out.”
The video features old photographs of the singer on various smartphones.
“I feel an overwhelming sadness,” he sings. “Of all the friends I do not have left. Seeing how my family has fractured. Growing up and moving on.
The single appears on Sheeran’s upcoming album, Play, which arrives Sept. 12. The album also includes the song “Azizam,” released in April.
“Play was an album that was made as a direct response to the darkest period of my life,” he said an Instagram post Thursday. “Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolor, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India, and had some of the most fun, explorative creative days of my life.”
“It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish. It encapsulates everything that I love about music, and the fun in it, but also where I am in life as a human, a partner, a father,” he continued.
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The track list also includes “Opening,” “Sapphire,” “Symmetry,” “Camera,” “In Other Words,” “A Little More,” “Slowly,” “Don’t Look Down,” “The Vow,” “For Always” and “Heaven.”
“This is the most exciting thing that I’ve done as an artist so far,” he said in an album trailer Thursday. “And it completely draws a line under everything that I’ve done, and feels like a fresh chapter. The sounds are sounds that we don’t use in western pop music.”
