Ed Sheeran’s new album was inspired by his “unbreakable bond” with his wife Cherry.
The 32-year-old pop star has been married to childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn, 30, 2019 but she was diagnosed with a tumour while she was pregnant with their second child, Jupiter, and explained whilst launching his new album ‘Subtract’ on Monday (28.03.23) evening that the track ‘No Strings’ was inspired by the ordeal as well as advice his father had given him on marriage.
As he introduced the song to the audience at the Eventim Apollo in London, he said: “My dad said to me when I got married, ‘You will not know what real love and marriage is until there’s death and real sickness’. He said that because that happened when he first married my mum. There was real, real grief that happened in the family and real, real sickness that ended up in grief that they had to go through.”
Cherry is now recovering from her illness but the ‘Eyes Closed’ hitmaker – who also has two-year-old daughter Lyra with his wife – went on to add while he has always felt a “real closeness” with his significant other, it was her tumour that created an “unbreakable bond” between the pair.
He said: “He said that it really brought them together and once that happens it’s an unbreakable bond. I’ve been married now almost five years and I’ve always felt real, real closeness. But last year was when that unbreakable bond was made. I know you should feel that before with a marriage and children, but I really feel like ‘if we can get through 2022, we can get through anything’.
Ed also debuted track ‘Spark’ at the intimate event and explained how that song explores the notion of “moving on” from trauma.
He said: “You know in movies when people have break-ups and they put everything into the fire and go, ‘It’s a new dawn’? I feel like that’s a healthy thing sometimes, to move on and be like, ‘That was then and this is now’. The lyrics in this chorus are ‘We’ll build a fire, we’ll torch our old life and hope that the original spark of what made it amazing survives and we’ll just move on from it.'”
‘Subtract’ is due for release on May 5.