Sheeran made the announcement on Twitter on Wednesday, where, along with a photo of him at work taken by American Annie Leibovitz, he posted an image of two pages from his diary explaining the inspiration behind his work.
“I had been working on ‘Subtract’ for a decade, trying to carve out the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be,” he writes.
“Then, in early 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art,” prompting him to create new material that reflected his “thoughts deeper and darker.”
“Within a month my pregnant wife was told she had a tumor, with no possibility of treatment until after the delivery,” he reveals.
Then, his best friend Jamal died suddenly and he was also sued before the British Justice for alleged plagiarism, a case he won.
“I was in a spiral of fear, depression and anxiety. I felt like I was drowning, with my head below the surface and looking up but unable to get air,” says the 32-year-old artist.
Sheeran confesses that this album, distributed by Atlantic Records and part of a series titled as Various Mathematical Symbols, is like “opening the hatch” of his soul.
He assures that for the first time it is not made to please the public but to reflect “honestly” at what point he is in his “adult life”.