Ed Sheeran has released a music video for ‘Eyes Closed’, the lead single off his upcoming album, ‘-‘.
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Today (March 24), the singer unveiled the single and its accompanying music video, in which he struggles with love and loss after the tragic passing of two of his closest friends Jamal Edwards and Australian cricketer Shane Warne.
While ‘Eyes Closed’ is a pop-leaning cut, it’s really a harrowing track about “losing someone, feeling like every time you go out and you expect to just bump into them, and everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together,” Sheeran explained via a press statement.
“You sorta have to take yourself out of reality sometimes to numb the pain of loss, but certain things just bring you right back into it.”
Watch the music video for Ed Sheeran’s ‘Eyes Closed’ below.
In the video, Sheeran is followed around by a big, fluffy blue creature that only he can see. Speaking on the themes of the video, the singer said: “When I was thinking of concepts for the ‘Eyes Closed’ music video, I wanted to make a video inspired by movies like Harvey, where the main character has an imaginary friend who’s a giant rabbit that no one can see. There’s also a book I read my daughters where sadness is encapsulated by an imaginary creature.”
:Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfing the rooms you’re in, and you can feel and see it, but no one else around you can. So I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video. He gets bigger and bigger as the video goes on, til he takes up whole rooms, and is all I can see, just like sadness.”
‘Eyes Closed’ is the first single to released from Ed Sheeran’s upcoming album ‘-‘ (pronounced ‘Subtract’). That record is set to arrive on May 5 via Asylum/Atlantic (pre-order/pre-save here), with a Disney+ documentary Ed Sheeran: The Sum of it All premiering on May 3.
Earlier this week, Sheeran shared that following the death of Jamal Edwards, he “felt like I didn’t want to live anymore,” elaborating that “those thoughts were bad enough, but shame arrived as their companion. They seemed selfish, especially as a father. I feel really embarrassed about it.”
Sheeran has also revealed plans for a posthumous album to be released following his death. That record will be a progressive work, with the singer planning to “add songs here and there” throughout the rest of his career.
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