Ed Sheeran Returns With New Music: Listen to ‘Castle on a Hill,’ ‘Shape of You’

Ed Sheeran delivered on his New Year's Day promise to share new music on January 6, twice over: The Grammy winner released two new songs, "Shape of You" and "Castle on a Hill."

"Shape of You" is a light dancehall-influenced pop jam in the vein of DJ Snake and Justin Bieber's "Cold Water" (which Sheeran co-wrote), and was written with producer Steve Mac and Snow Patrol member Johnny McDaid. The track also weaves in Sheeran's signature acoustic guitar and the verging-on-rapping style of percussive singing he tends to favor on non-ballads.

What's more, Sheeran originally wrote "Shape of You" at a writing camp (in which songwriters concoct material for major pop artists). He told BBC Radio 1 that he thought, "this would really work for Rihanna, and then I started singing lyrics like 'put Van the man on the jukebox' and I was like, she's not really gonna sing that is she?"

The Springsteen-by-way-of-One Directionesque "Castle on the Hill" solves the mystery of Sheeran's cryptic tweet from January 2: "When I was six years old, I broke my leg" is the opening lyric to his nostalgic pop-rock reflection on growing up in Framlingham, Suffolk in the English countryside.

"Tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass as I rolled down / I was younger then," Sheeran sings over a mounting drumbeat. The song was co-written with hitmaker Benny Blanco.

"I really wanted to show two different sides to my music that I’m equally as passionate about and I just knew I wanted to roll with two songs at the same time," Sheeran said in a statement. "I’m absolutely buzzing to be back."

Listen to "Castle on the Hill" below.

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