12 months ago, Ed Sheeran took a break from music-making and turned to baby-making instead.
After welcoming a little girl, Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran with his wife Cherry back in September, the 29-year-old has been enjoying some much-needed family time.
However, not one to shy away from finding inspiration from life’s magical moments, Sheeran released a surprise song in very much the same way that Taylor Swift did, with her brand-new album, Folklore.
Taking to social media, Sheeran first told his 31.7m followers that he had a “Christmas present” coming before releasing his first song in almost two years, Afterglow a few hours later.
“Afterglow is a song I wrote last year that I wanted to release for you,” he said, before adding it wasn’t the first single from his next album.
“It’s just a song I love and hope you love it too.”
So, what is Afterglow about? While Sheeran himself hasn’t explained it, there’s only one definitive explanation. It’s a love song about his wife, Cherry, before the birth of Lyra. Le sigh.
“The sun’s reflected by the coffee in your hand, my eyes are caught in your gaze all over again. We were love drunk, waiting on a miracle.” Imagine having a song this beautiful written about you!
When Sheeran went on a hiatus, he said he was “taking a breather to travel, write and read”.
“The Divide era and tour changed my life in so many ways, but now it’s all over it’s time to go out and see some more of the world,” he wrote in a social media post.
“I’ve been a bit non-stop since 2017 so I’m just gonna take a breather to travel, write and read. I’ll be off all social media until it’s time to come back.
“To my family and friends, see ya when I see ya – and to my fans, thank you for always being amazing, I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I’ve lived a little more to actually have something to write about”.
We guess being a new husband and father was that perfect “something”.
Ed Sheeran Afterglow lyrics
Stop the clocks, it’s amazing
You should see the way the light dances off your head
A million colours of hazel, golden and red
Saturday morning is fading
The sun’s reflected by the coffee in your hand
My eyes are caught in your gaze all over again
We were love drunk, waiting on a miracle
Trying to find ourselves in the winter snow
So alone in love like the world had disappeared
Oh, I won’t be silent and I won’t let go
I will hold on tighter ’til the afterglow
And we’ll burn so bright ’til the darkness softly clears
Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow
Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow
The weather outside’s changing
The leaves are buried under six inches of white
The radio is playing, Iron & Wine
This is a new dimension
This is a level where we’re losing track of time
I’m holding nothing against it, except you and I
We were love drunk, waiting on a miracle
Trying to find ourselves in the winter snow
So alone in love like the world had disappeared
Oh, I won’t be silent and I won’t let go
I will hold on tighter ’til the afterglow
And we’ll burn so bright ’til the darkness softly clears
Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow
Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow
Oh, I will hold on to the afterglow