Ed Sheeran Breaks Free With New Album 'Autumn Variations'

09-30-2023

(CBS News) CBS Mornings have shared some highlights from their segment with Ed Sheeran. His "Autumn Variations" is the first album that he is releasing on his label.

He told co-host Gayle King about letting go of expectations and writing songs about friends: "The best songs that I've ever written are the ones that make me feel the most uncomfortable."

ON HEALING FOLLOWING HIS WIFE'S CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND THE DEATH OF HIS BEST FRIEND

KING: "I remember when the doc came out, Cherry had said she wondered if you had really had enough time to heal. Do you think you're still healing?"

SHEERAN: "I don't know if you ever do. I think"

KING: "I don't either."

SHEERAN: "Yeah, I think it's weird to suddenly be like, cool, I'm fine. I'm not sad about my friend who died anymore. I think, I think grief is something that lives with you forever. And some days it's worse than others. But it's definitely not something that I want to be fixed."

ON THE INSPIRATION FOR "WHEN WILL I BE ALL RIGHT"

SHEERAN: "..."When Will I Be All Right" was a conversation that I had with one of my school friends who was really, really going through it. And he had big ups, big downs, and yeah, he said that he stays up late at night and wonders whether-- whether he should be here or not. And that's, that's essentially where the inspiration came.."

KING: "Is it hard to write about songs when your friends are going through painful things? You said it's actually"

SHEERAN: "Yeah, it's weird. So I find it, so I find the best songs that I've ever written are the ones that make me feel the most uncomfortable."

ON RELEASING THE ALBUM UNDER HIS LABEL "GINGERBREAD MAN RECORDS"

SHEERAN: "Each record before I've done, like, all the big going in and doing all these radio interviews, and going on the late-night shows, and doing, doing all this stuff. And this record, there's not even a single for it. There's not, there's not a music video. I'm just putting it out."

KING: "There isn't? There isn't?"

SHEERAN: "No. No. It's basically, it's a record that is as a whole"

KING: "And you're just putting it out. Well, that's kinda scary then. I there's no video out? There's no video?"

SHEERAN: "No. No. I've just gotta manage my expectations. For me, it's like"

KING: Why are you doing it this way then? Why are you doing it like that?

SHEERAN: "Well, I wanna put out an independent record. And also, like, I've had 12, 13 years of the, being a pop star, and having the pressure of it has to sell this week one, you have to have this hit single, you have to have this. And part of me goes, why? Like, what all of my favorite artists aren't"

KING: "'Cause, 'cause it's a business."

SHEERAN: "Yeah, but my favorite artists in the world are not. They didn't have 17 number one albums in a row."