Shocking But True: Ed Sheeran Is Ditching Pop For His Next Album

there really are a number of certainties in this crazy world: The sky is blue. Basketballs are round. Christmas is on December 25. And Ed Sheeran makes pop music.


Only... That latter statement might not actually be true anymore. The Brit singer recently revealed that he’s already began writing the follow-up to his Grammy-winning 2017 album, ÷ (divide), and it also looks like he’s changing up his tried-and-true pop formula for album No. 4.


“The next record that I’m making isn't a pop album,” Sheeran told his pal George Ezra on the opening installment of the George Ezra & Friends podcast. “The reason it’s not a pop album is people expect you to come and the next album they’re going to be like, ‘it has to be bigger than ‘Shape of You’ and yes it has to sell more than this.’ ... However if I control it and I’m like, ‘Here’s a lo-fi record that I really fucking love,’ my fans are gonna be like ‘Yay!’, And the pop world are gonna be like ‘oh well, perhaps the next one.’”


He added, “The label hate that. The label really fucking hate that. They want a big pop album again, yet I think that shit’s dangerous.”


So why the sudden change in sonics? Sheeran explained that he thinks it’s “dangerous” to have a pop career that gets bigger and bigger, and he wants to control expectations from fans and from his label.


“The worst thing in the world is any time people think they’ve got you worked out,” he mentioned, adding that he wants to be like Coldplay, whose sixth album, 2014’s Ghost Stories, was much more stripped-down and experimental than the band’s previous records.


“My whole career I’ve studied Coldplay — Coldplay are fucking geniuses,” Sheeran mentioned. “Ghost Stories was their artsy moment, where they just brought it back down. They controlled it.”


Hmm... So what does a pop-less Sheeran actually sound like? Who understands, nevertheless you gotta love an artist who keeps the world on its toes.