Fans were in for a real treat when Ed Sheeran dropped a surprise new single on Monday (December 21) – right in time for the holidays!
The excitement actually started Sunday (December 20), when the singer announced that he had a “Christmas present” coming Monday morning.
“Hey guys. ‘Afterglow’ is a song I wrote last year that I wanted to release for you,” Ed shared on Instagram. “It’s not the first single from the next album, it’s just a song I love, and hope you love too. Enjoy!”
“Have a safe and happy festive break and New Year’s,” he added, before announcing his exit from the spotlight again with his next line: “Back to dad land for me now, ciao x.”
To make the surprise even sweeter, he also released a performance video of himself singing the romantic tune while playing the acoustic guitar.
The lyrics include the lines: “Oh I won’t be silent and I won’t let go / I will hold on tight until the afterglow / And we’ll burn so bright until the darkness softly clears.”
ICYMI, it’s been almost a year since Ed announced that he was taking a break from music.
“I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I’ve lived a little more to actually have something to write about,” Ed wrote in a note to fans back in December 2019.
Although he’s mostly stayed away from the spotlight during that period, after somehow managing to keep the whole pregnancy totally secret from the media, in September, Ed took to Instagram to announce that he and his wife, Cherry Seaborn, welcomed their first child – a baby girl.
“Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter – Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here,” Ed wrote at the time, sharing a photo of a knitted baby blanket and a tiny pair of socks.
He hasn’t given a hint about when he would return to music, but did say this: “I’ll see you when it’s time to come back.”
Ed, who’s notoriously private about his personal life, tied the knot with Cherry in December 2018 – some reports came out about the event, but it wasn’t until July 2019, during an interview with Charlamagne Tha God, that he finally confirmed that he did get married.
