Sarah Chawla, Courier Staff Writer
After a year long hiatus, Ed Sheeran has returned with two singles.
In December, he teased his fans with a tweet containing a picture of a cryptic solid light blue square. On January first, he released a short video captioned “Hello 2017…” that depicts him holding up a sign claiming that new music will be released on Friday.
After much anticipation, he continued to tease lyrics and hints to the album cover throughout the week until finally releasing two singles late on January 5th. “Castle On The Hill” and “Shape Of You”, which were released simultaneously, both have an average iTunes rating of five stars. However, “Shape Of You” is the more popular of the two.
Unlike his previous acoustic sound, Sheeran used “Shape Of You” to experiment with a more pop sound with small hints of unexpected tropical influences. Sheeran revealed on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show that the song was originally written with Rihanna in mind.
The pair of singles both broke the record for the most streams on Spotify within 24 hours, which was previously held by One Direction’s “Drag me Down” with 4,759,698 plays. “Shape of You” received 6,868,642 plays and “Castle On The Hill” was close behind with 6,168,395 plays.
Sheeran continues to tell stories with his music. “Castle On The Hill” was written about Suffolk, where Sheeran grew up. He reminisces on his childhood and the nostalgic memories he shared while watching “the sunset over the castle on the hill”. Since “Shape Of You” wasn’t originally his song, it was more of a last minute addition, but it still tells a story.
The two singles are expected to be a part of Sheeran’s new album, ÷ (pronounced divide), which has not been given a release date yet.
While these songs are a bit atypical for Sheeran, the majority of his fans still like them. It still sounds like Ed Sheeran, just with a twist.