Ed Sheeran says the birth of his daughter last year almost convinced him to retire.
In an interview earlier this month, the 30-year-old singer reflected on the break he took following his massively successful ÷ tour in 2019. (At the time, Sheeran told fans: “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.”)
Sheeran explained: “I stopped playing music for a bit and music is entirely me as a person. Then I had my daughter – well, my wife had our daughter but, you know, I’m a parent – and then I was like: ‘Right, that’s it. This is me. I am just going to be a dad. I am not going to play music anymore.’
“I found myself getting really sad and having zero purpose even though I was putting time and effort into being a dad. And then I was suddenly like, I think it’s more important for my daughter to grow up knowing that her parents have work ethic and her parents love working hard and love creating and enjoy their jobs and seeing that rather than looking at your dad like technically unemployed.”
Sheeran said he “slowly got back into music that way and the creative process sort of started flowing again. But there was a long period of time where I just didn’t really know … everything was directionless.”
Sheeran and his wife Cherry welcomed Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran last August.
Last month, the singer released the single “Bad Habits” ahead of his new album.