British musician Ed Sheeran has previewed his new single “Eyes Closed” exclusively on TikTok. Live now, the single is from Sheeran’s final album in the mathematical album era, “Subtract.”
The six-day TikTok preview features Sheeran performing an acoustic performance of “Eyes Closed.” The single will drop March 24. The album, which will release on May 5, was produced and written with Aaron Dessner of the National and follows his latest release “F64,” which dropped Jan. 19 and memorialized his friend and SBTV founder Jamal Edwards, who died last year at 31.
“Subtract” was written against a backdrop of grief and hope. “As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life,” Sheeran said in a message about the album.
Sheeran has seen huge success on TikTok, with 13.4 million followers and 145 million likes. His live premiere of “Bad Habits” at the TikTok UEFA Euro 2020 Show in 2021 broke the record for the biggest live music performance on TikTok with over 5.5 million unique viewers globally. “Bad Habits” also became the most popular song preview ever on TikTok, setting yet another record, with over 1.1 million video creations.