Ed Sheeran Joins Blue Meanie in 'Eyes Closed' Music Video

Sheeran deals with love and loss in his new song, the first  "Subtract".   

Ed Sheeran deals with love and loss and breaks them down into a pop instrumental for "Eyes Closed," the first single from his upcoming album  (pronounced Subtract). Coming at midnight, "Eyes Closed" has been streaming for several years. Sheeran originally envisioned it as a breakup song, before "Eyes Closed" evolved after Sheeran "suffered a heartbreaking loss," prompting him to revisit the song, according to the new single and music video.  

Directed by Mia Barnes, the music video follows Sheeran as he is pursued by the blue monster, an allegory of grief - always present, always lurking. "This song is about losing someone, it feels like every time you go out and expect to meet them,  everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together," Sheeran explains. 
 
"Sometimes you have to turn off reality to cancel out  the pain of loss, but certain things  bring you  back to it." 
 
When thinking about the concepts for the music video, the classic Harvey from 1950 came to mind, where the main character has an imaginary giant rabbit as his friend. 

"There's also a book I read to my daughters where sadness is focused by an imaginary being," she continues. "Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfs the spaces you're in, and you can feel it and see it, but no one else around you can. That's why I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video. It grows and grows as the video progresses until it takes over entire rooms and that's all I  see,  like sadness." 
 
Despite these struggles, the British superstar sings purple. 

He has just finished a tour of Australia where he broke the national record for concert tickets sold in one night at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with over 100,000 tickets sold. The next night he broke the record again.
 
That national trek and others before it was produced by Frontier Touring, the Melbourne-based concert giant that is part of the Mushroom Group, founded by Sheeran's best friend Michael Gudinski.  The Australian entrepreneur died in 2021, leaving Sheeran and many others scarred. Sheeran made the long trip to the Victorian capital to perform at Gudinski's state memorial, where he debuted 'Visiting Hours', which appeared on Sheeran's latest album 2021 = (as well), in her honor. 

This week, Sheeran appeared in a special commercial for the 50th anniversary of the Mushroom Group, which will be released this year under the direction of the company's CEO, Matt Gudinski. 

Sheeran's next album is out on May 5 via Atlantic Records. It is said to be a "soulful" collection written "against a backdrop of grief and hope" as he dealt with Gudinski's death, his wife Cherry Seaborn's tumor diagnosis and the loss of close friend Jamal Edwards.  

The Englishman co-wrote a 1-track album with The National's Aaron Dessner in February 2022. 

He has a perfect five number-one hits on the UK and Australian album charts.

Daisy Blair

She is a creative, motivated, and organized professional who loves to write stories, create engaging content, and work with clients to help them reach their goals.

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