Ed Sheeran has not only confirmed that his new album is indeed called Play — represented by a right-facing triangle that looks like the “play” button on a stereo — but that it’ll be followed by another string of albums depicted by symbols for Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.
Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday, Ed explained why he’s following up his five “math symbols” albums with five of these “button” albums.
“When I was, like, 18 I had an idea for 10 albums,” he noted. “I’m kind of a bit obsessed with [Quentin] Tarantino and I heard he was doing 10 films, and he’s got his, like, side projects. … So I want to do my 10 and every now and then do a side project here and there.”
He also claimed that he’s considering putting together an album of unreleased songs he’s written over the years and then have it in his will that it will be released on the day he dies — under the name Eject.
Ed also talked about The Old Phone Pub, a two-day pop-up experience he’s hosting in Ipswich, Massachusetts, inspired by a song on the new album called “Old Phone.” He played the song for Jimmy and explained that it was inspired by him getting out his old phone, which he hadn’t touched since 2015, to retrieve information for a copyright lawsuit he was involved in.
“I switched it on and it was like going into a time machine,” he told Jimmy. “The first text was my friend that had passed away, the second was an argument with an ex-girlfriend. … It really spun me out.” He made a note to himself to write a song about it one day — and here we are.
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