Ed Sheeran has explained why he’s been absent from social media for the past few years, and has promised to resume posting.
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The pop star said in a video shared on his Instagram account yesterday (January 31) that he “didn’t really feel like being online” when he was experiencing “some turbulent things” in his personal life.
In a selfie video, the singer began: “Hi guys, so I realise I haven’t been that engaged in my social media or my fan base online over the last couple of years. And the things that have been posted on this account might have got a bit boring. And I’m sorry, it’s my fault.
“The reason I’m making this video is, just being totally honest, I’ve had some turbulent things been happening in my personal life, so I just didn’t really feel like being online and pretending to be something I’m not when I wasn’t feeling like that.”
He continued, saying that “things are looking up” and now that he’s back online, “weird shit is gonna start being posted”.
“I’ve made this video like 50 fucking times, I’m not making another one,” he said jokingly before signing off.
Sheeran hasn’t been totally off duty. Last year, he posted a video on his Instagram to celebrate his song ‘Shivers’ reaching the billion-stream mark on Spotify. In the process he shared that he was on set of a yet-unknown music video for his follow-up to 2021’s ‘=‘ (Equals) that he said will be released this year.
Like many high profile artists, Sheeran doesn’t use many social media platforms in a personal capacity. That includes Twitter, where he has instead opted for his page to be managed by his team as ‘Ed Sheeran HQ’.
In other news, last month Sheeran honoured his friend, the late Jamal Edwards, with a 64-bar freestyle for SBTV, the online hip-hop and youth culture broadcaster that Edwards founded in 2006.
Sheeran’s freestyle was filmed inside an empty Stamford Bridge – home stadium of Chelsea FC, whom Edwards was a lifelong fan of – with the name Jamal spelled out in the stands. The singer-songwriter delivered a raw, emotive set of bars as he expressed his grief at Edwards’ death, aged 31, in February of last year.
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