Ed Sheeran is set to release an album for each of the seasons as he did for his mathematical series – but has a big “pop album” on the way before he follows up ‘Autumn Variations’.
The Grammy winner has revealed to fans what his plans are after he releases the first of his seasonal album collection on Friday (29.09.23).
He told fans at a pop-up for ‘Autumn Variations’: “I am planning on doing a ‘Summer Variations’, and ‘Spring Variations’, and there will be [a ‘Winter Variations’ album].
“But that isn’t what’s coming after this [Autumn Variations].”
The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker then teased: “We’ve got a big pop record.”
The prolific star recently revealed he has a live version of ‘Autumn Variations’ recorded at fans’ houses on the way.
The ‘Shape of You’ hitmaker was secretly recording the project while performing for fans in their living rooms.
Alongside a clip of him surprising a fan by playing the piano, he wrote on Instagram: “So I did some surprise pop up gigs in fans houses, secretly recording a live album of Autumn Variations where each song is recorded in a different fan’s living room, but all of it was a total surprise. (sic)”
Ed is set to release the live edition “soon”.
He continued: “We got to @kariconaway’s house at the end of the day, and I instantly knew it was gonna be a fun one. They had cats, friendship bracelets and some fruit drinks to start, but once I’d played the Autumn song I said take me on a tour, and when I went into her room I saw a piano. She asked if I could play and I said ‘not really but I kinda play on wake me up’, so here I am playing Wake Me Up, for all the Plus fans out there.
“The fan living room live Autumn Variations album coming soon, proper album out 29th September. (sic)”
Sharing the inspiration behind the record, Ed recently explained: “Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded.
“When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.
“My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed ‘Enigma Variations’, where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends. This is what inspired me to make this album.
“When I recorded ‘-‘ with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop, and this album was born out of that partnership. I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”