Ed Sheeran is back! The Grammy winner joined Ryan Seacrest on-air on Friday, June 25, on the heels of the release of his new single “Bad Habits.” “Bad Habits” marks Ed's first single off his highly-anticipated fifth studio album and since 2017’s “Happier.”
“It’s been quite a seismic shift in my life, it’s been great,” Ed shared with Seacrest of welcoming his first child, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, 9 months, with wife Cherry Seaborn. “You just prioritize different things. Like, I got healthy and just spent a lot of time at home. I didn’t really do any music for about six months. I was just like full-time dad.”
“Instead of, like, just working, I would work like 9 to 5 … and I was doing like vocals with like her asleep on my shoulder,” he added. “It was good.”
So, does Lyra approve of album No. 5?
“She doesn’t like the ones — the beltier, sing-y ones she kind of gets a bit shook — but there’s one song on the album that’s a very sort of soothing lullaby. She likes that one.”
Ed has yet to reveal the name of his new album, but shared it was whittled down from hundreds and hundreds of songs.
“The album is not called ‘Minus,’ no," Ed said when asked about the fan theories. "All will be revealed in time. But, it’s been a cool process. I kind of like recorded close to 250 songs for two albums and I’ve been whittling this album down and I feel like I’ve got to the point where I’m happy. This first single, ‘Bad Habits,’ is like the most different song I’ve made. … It’s the first time I’ve had a dance tune and gone fully out.”
Ed shared he was influenced by the world re-opening post-pandemic.
“I was like let me see if I can make something upbeat because I’m going to be wanting to go to clubs in the summer and what would I want to hear? So I basically made a tune that hopefully fits into the world opening up.”
Ed added the song was also inspired by those classic Friday nights that start out with "the best intentions" and end up going until 2AM with fast food.
“If you look at the Ipswich Town football shirt, it's on there," Ed concluded of his mysterious album title. "It's on there. I don’t want to announce it yet because I’ve got the single as the focus and then later on in the year I'll announce the album.”
Watch back the full interview in Ed and Seacrest above for more and stream "Bad Habits" out now.