Ed Sheeran believes that all pop stars want to be loved. He believes that it is the primary reason artists make music, and he won't hear otherwise.
During an appearance on Therapuss with Jake Shane, Sheeran was asked if he still cares about his album's critical reception. He quickly responded that he does and doesn't believe any artist who says otherwise.
“I don't believe any artist that says they don't, otherwise you wouldn't release music,” Sheeran said. “Because you'd be like, ‘If I don't care what people think, then why would I even put it out?' You'd just sort of make the music and be like, ‘Well, that's made me feel good.'
“All artists, we want to be loved. That's why we are on stage and that's why you sign to a record company to go, ‘I would like people to hear the music that I'm making.' I don't really subscribe to this whole, like, not caring thing of being like, ‘I don't care how it does and I make music for me,' because if you did do that, you wouldn't release it. That's all a ruse because it sounds cool to say but every artist wants people to like their music,” he continued.
Why Subtract was special for Sheeran
Ultimately, people liking your music helps artists' insecurities. “It makes you feel less insecure,” Sheeran said. “You write something insecure in a song that you deep down are like, ‘Oh my God, I just need to put this out and I feel really uncomfortable with it.' And you want to have people be like, ‘I feel the same way.' And then that justifies the feeling.”
He then spoke about his experience writing Subtract, perhaps his most personal album to date.
“What I loved about Subtract is out of real pain and hurt and sorrow, something beautiful happened. And touring that record and meeting people who were going through the same things or had gone through similar things and that's what is amazing about music.
“It really pisses me off when people are like too cool — they're like, ‘Oh I don't care how it does.' I'm like, ‘F**king shut up. You do,'” he continued.
He then walked back his comments to a degree. Sheeran said that small artists signed to indie labels does care. But anyone “in the pop game” definitely do care, according to him.
Who is Ed Sheeran?
Recently, Sheeran has resumed his “Mathematics” tour after some one-off shows in the United States. He celebrated the tenth anniversary of Multiply with a show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
On June 8, 2024, Sheeran resumed the “Mathematics” tour with a show in Lucca, Italy. Sheeran will play shows across Europe before closing out the tour with a show in Brazil on September 19.
The “Mathematics” tour is a celebration of Sheeran's past work. It incorporates his first six studio albums — five of which were named after math symbols — into the setlist.
In 2023, Sheeran had a busy year with two albums coming out. First was Subtract, the final installment in the math symbol-titled albums. The second was Autumn Variations on September 29, 2023.
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