Ed Sheeran.Photo: Liz Collins
Ed Sheeranis thinking out loud about what his musical output will look like when he’s no longer alive.
The “Shape of You” singer, 32, revealed in a new interview withRolling Stonethathe’s already planningfor an album to release after his death.
“I want to slowly make this album that is quote-unquote ‘perfect’ for the rest of my life, adding songs here and there,” Sheeran told the outlet. “And just have it in my will that after I die, it comes out.”
The posthumous release, Sheeran shared, will be the final project in another five-album series of projects titled after symbols — like his current mathematical titles. And while he didn’t reveal much else about it, he’s already juggling a few musical projects at the moment.
Ed Sheeran.Liz Collins
Fans are currently counting down the days until the release of his May effort-(orSubtract), but he’s also pulled out a few songs from those sessions for another project with collaborator Aaron Dessner. “It was very quickly seen that we were making two different things,” Sheeran said.
Posthumous releases certainly aren’t anything new, as this decade alone, fans have seen releases from artists likeMac Miller, Juice Wrld, Pop Smoke, Eddie Money andDMXshortly after their deaths.
Still, some musicians are entirely against the concept of releasing music after they die.Anderson .Paakshowed off a then-new tattoo back in 2021, which specifically gives his estate instructions on what to do with his unreleased musicwhen he’s no longer alive. The tattoo — which appears below an image of Animal, the Muppet, playing the drums — was shared to .Paak’s Instagram Story.
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As for Sheeran, his latest LP features input from his new collaborator Aaron Dessner, 46, who he revealed on Instagram was someone he met through longtime friendTaylor Swift. The musician notably worked with Swift on her LPsfolkloreandevermore.
“So in 2021, I got a message from@taylorswiftto link me up with@aarondessner. She thought he and I would make something great together,“Sheeran revealed in an Instagram caption. “I have to be honest I was a bit reticent to work with him that soon after folklore and evermore because I felt that was Taylor’s thing and they had both been done so perfectly. But we met for dinner, chatted about life and music, and he promised to send me some instrumentals for me to write over whenever inspiration hit.”
The National’s Dessner earned an album of the year Grammy win with Swift for their work onfolklorein 2021, and he’s since formed a creative bond with Sheeran, too. As the musician writes, Dessner provided him with some instrumentals that he “loved the whole overall vibe of,” but didn’t feel they matched up with what his new album was set to be, at least at the time.
“Thanks to Aaron and Jon for the insane amount of hard work and dedication you put into this project, and bringing out a side of me I had put on mute for so long,” he continued. “And of course, thanks to Swizzle, as always, you rock x”
source: people.com
