- (Deluxe)

It doesn’t take long for Ed Sheeran to reveal the heart of his sixth album. About 40 seconds into opening track “Boat”, he sings, “They say that all scars will heal but I know/Maybe I won’t/But the waves won't break my boat.” Written in the wake of—and during—deeply challenging times, - is “an album about grief and depression and stuff”, as Sheeran tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “‘Boat’ is about resilience: ‘I know that I’m never going to be all right, but whatever waves come, I’m going to remain floating.’ Your life can fit around grief. You don’t have to get over anything. I will never, ever, ever get over Jamal [Edwards, SB.TV founder and Sheeran’s best friend] dying at 31. I don’t want to, I don’t feel like I have to. I feel like, if I want to cry, I can cry.” It’s not a simple outpouring, though; these are songs that attempt to process events, the work of a songwriter who’s learned that trauma and anxiety are not obstacles to overcome and bury, but experiences that you absorb, live with and, hopefully, draw strength from. “I find this a lot when my friends are going through things,” he says. “Everyone you ever speak to, they go, ‘I’m doing so much better now.’ And I don't believe them, because I don’t [believe] anyone at any point is just fixed. It’s the same thing with depression. It’s not a switch that you can just go, ‘Now I feel fine.’ It’s something that is constantly there and it’s either here or it’s here or it’s here.” There are passages of arresting sadness here. On “Eyes Closed”, Sheeran’s isolated and unfastened by Edwards’ sudden passing, before “Sycamore” places us in a doctor’s waiting room as Sheeran and his pregnant wife Cherry Seaborn steel themselves for news about her tumour diagnosis. However, optimism and fortitude flood through as he looks to his family. Piano ballad “No Strings” salutes the galvanising strength of his love for Seaborn, and fatherhood brings light and warmth in on “Dusty”, where he recounts playing favourite albums for