Listen: Ed Sheeran unveils brand new release, ‘Sing’

Ed Sheeran has premiered Sing, the Suffolk-born artist’s first release from his upcoming sophomore album, x.

Teased last week, and previewed with a live snippet over the weekend, Sing marks the return to new music for Sheeran, who has been working away on fresh material whilst spending the past twelve months in the US, supporting Taylor Swift on her Red tour.

Sing, which is available globally this evening, (bar the UK, Ireland, Germany and Australia, who will receive the Sing EP in a month), the received its worldwide premiere moments ago on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show. Lowe has been a long-time supporter of Sheeran since prior to his debut album +, so choosing that platform to mark his return to music has been truly justified.

Ed’s follow-up to + will be released globally on 23rd June, less than one week prior to the singer taking the stage at this summer’s Glastonbury Festival, where no-doubt he’ll be playing a range of tracks from the new material. According to today’s Guardian, Sheeran has claimed to have written “about 120 songs for his second release, recording them with Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams and and producer Jake Gosling”. To help whittle the collection down to a final tracklisting, the singer enlisted Taylor Swift, telling MTV news “She’s heard all the songs and she’s a good judge of what’s good or not good,”.

Inspired by Justin Timberlake, and produced by Pharrell Williams, take a listen to Sing below:

In celebration of the new release, Ed Sheeran is also taking to a Google Hangout to answer fans’ questions. Watch the whole hangout live below: