Ed Sheeran announced his new album –, or Subtract, earlier this month. He revealed that Aaron Dessner of The National helped him a great deal in the making of the record; Dessner wrote on Instagram that they “finished over 30 songs together in a week.” Only about half made the LP.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Sheeran expanded on what was cut. Writer Brian Hiatt explained that a whole new album will be unveiled, made up of that material. Read what Hiatt wrote below.
“He went on to write an entirely separate second album with Dessner. He’s already mixing that one, though he’s not sure when it will come out; he wants to give – a chance to breathe. ‘I have no goals for the record,’ he says. ‘I just want to put it out.’”
It looks like that’s not the only music Sheeran cut from Subtract. The singer shared, “I’ve got loads and loads and loads of sh*t,” he told the publication. “I wrote 25 songs the week I wrote ‘Shape of You,’ ” he continued, estimating that it accumulated to “years’ worth of releases.” “Who’s to say at what point creativity stops and you can’t write any more songs? At least there’s enough banked up.”
Hiatt added more context about this unreleased material, divulging that J Balvin was a key collaborator as well.
“There is, as it turns out, yet another completed album waiting in the wings, a collaboration with reggaeton superstar J Balvin. They knocked the whole thing out last year, after Sheeran randomly encountered Balvin (José, he calls him) in a hotel gym a couple of years earlier. The album is all ready to go, complete with already-shot videos, but again, with no release date in sight.”
– (Subtract) is out 5/5 via Atlantic. Find more information here.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.