Ed Sheeran has officially announced his new album, Play, confirming long-standing speculation about the title. The reveal came during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he also performed a surprise subway set and debuted a brand-new song, Old Phone.
The singer-songwriter shared that Play is part of a larger vision he developed at 18—a series of 10 albums that includes Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward, and Stop, completing the cycle he began with +, x, ÷, =, and –. He credits Quentin Tarantino as an influence, inspired by the filmmaker’s idea of crafting a 10-film legacy.
Sheeran even joked about an additional posthumous album titled Eject, a collection of unreleased tracks spanning his entire life. “Imagine if, when Paul McCartney dies, an album drops with songs from every stage of his life. That would be fascinating,” he said. “In my case, people would probably say, ‘Damn, he’s still haunting us from the grave!’”
The album’s first single, Azizam, arrives on April 4 and showcases Sheeran’s global influences. He collaborated with musicians from China, India, the U.S. (bluegrass artists), and Ireland, emphasizing that “music is a universal language.”
Another standout track, Old Phone, holds deep personal significance. Written after discovering an old mobile phone during a legal battle, Sheeran described it as a time capsule: “The first message I saw was from a friend who passed away a year earlier, and the second was a fight with an ex.” The song’s music video will be filmed at Old Phone, a pop-up pub Sheeran is opening for two days in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
During his Fallon appearance, Sheeran also demonstrated how he built Shape of You using a looping station. He revealed that both Shape of You and Love Yourself—which became a Justin Bieber hit—were originally written for Rihanna. “She has incredible taste in music, and I always try to write something for her on every album,” he shared.
As Sheeran gears up for his next creative era, Play is shaping up to be one of his most ambitious projects yet. Fans won’t have to wait long—Azizam drops April 4, with more surprises likely on the way.