Photo Courtesy of The New York Times

Over four and a half years after the release of the record shattering “÷” album, Ed Sheeran officially came out of hibernation on Oct. 29, 2021, releasing the fourth installment of his math symbol-themed series of records: “=.”

While “÷” took listeners around the world with internationally inspired songs like “Barcelona,” “Bibia Be Ye Ye” and “Nancy Mulligan,” “=” invites listeners into Sheeran’s own home – and heart – marking his most personal album to date. 

For Sheeran, the equals sign represents life and not taking it for granted. The 14-track record is inspired by two life-changing moments: the recent birth of his daughter, Lyra, and the death of good friend and mentor, Michael Gudinski.

“I spent a lot of my 20s questioning ‘Who am I? Why am I here? Why do I do this? If I’m a singer, what do I add to the world?’ So much questioning. I’ve turned 30 and I feel like some of these questions have started to have answers … through two very, very massive moments in my life,” Sheeran told Zane Lowe in an interview for Apple Music’s New Music Daily. “Both hit me in a way where you appreciate tomorrow more because of each one.”

While a large part of the album is centered around love and relationships – quintessential Ed Sheeran – musically, “=” continues to venture off from the acoustic, singer-songwriter feel Sheeran is known and loved for in his early albums, replaced instead with synthesizers and larger produced tracks.

Like the previous album’s opener, “Eraser,” the album opens with “Tides,” where Sheeran gives his audience an update on his life. In the first line he sings, “I have grown up, I am a father now / Everything has changed, but I am still the same somehow.” In the chorus he adds that “life is changin’ tides.”

“I wanted something you could open with in a stadium that was huge, but, at the same time, tiny,” Sheeran writes in his song description for Apple Music. “The verse is as chaotic as it comes, it’s just noise – And then everything stops. It’s about what happened: I became a dad and all the noise was just shut off. Nothing else mattered at that moment.”

The album continues with “Shivers” as the second track and “Bad Habits” as the fourth, two singles released ahead of time and which combined for 15 straight weeks atop the UK charts. Both serve as electronic-heavy dance tunes, surely inspired by 80s pop music.

From there, the British singer-songwriter returns to his acoustic roots in “First Times.” The love song is a successor to Sheeran’s wedding-worthy mega-hits like “Perfect” and “Thinking Out Loud.” Although “First Times” is pretty, it’s arguably not as good as those two classics. The song plays into Sheeran’s theme of appreciating small moments as he sings “Ain’t it funny how the simplest things in life can make a man?” and “I can’t wait to make a million more first times” – a sweet message to his new wife and the mother of his daughter, childhood friend Cherry Seaborn who he married in 2019.

The second half of the album includes some of Sheeran’s most personal songs, many of which were written for and inspired by both his daughter and late friend.

“Leave Your Life,” Sheeran’s favorite song on the album, is a direct message to his baby girl, saying he’ll always be there and love her no matter what. “Sandman” is a lullaby designed for her to listen to while falling asleep.

Coming in right before “Sandman,” Sheeran sings of grief in “Visiting Hours,” wishing he could visit his friend, Gudinski, in heaven.

The record is rounded out with “Be Right Now” – the furthest Sheeran has explored EDM – as the listener’s journey into his personal family life comes to an end.

“I purposefully wrote this as a closing track. It felt like the end of the record, my family basically going back into our world,” Sheeran tells Apple Music. “The album literally starts with you being slapped in the face with noise, and the album ends with a vocoder choir singing really gently and easing you out.”

Experimenting with new sounds and genres as far back as “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” or “Sing,” his previous album’s diversity showed us what Sheeran’s capable of musically. This new album takes that to a whole new level while still being rooted in the strong lyricism and pretty melodies of his music people fell in love with in the first place.

Whether it’s a genuine evolution in his musical interests or a desire to simply sell out stadiums and climb the charts, Sheeran’s new sound is a warm welcome, and his ability to tell stories straight from the heart will never go out of style.