“I have grown up, I am a father now, everything has changed but I am still the same somehow,” Sheeran sings on the opener, “Tides,” in a flagrant display of telling rather than showing. Musically, though, “Tides” is one of the most effective songs on the album, a stomping, surging lite-rocker arranged around a neat formal trick. After verses that rush through a list of Sheeran’s fears and neuroses, the track suddenly seems to suspend itself in midair during the chorus, long enough for Sheeran to reveal to his loved ones, “Time stops to still, when you are in my arms it always will.”

Ed Sheeran is back to where he belongs, dazzling the world with irresistible pop feel-good music! With ‘Shivers,’ he does not disappoint. Moreover, he demonstrates why he is as popular today as the day he first entered the music scene.
The singer, who is now balancing fatherhood and his music career, immediately delights the ears with a new electrifying sound that appears to be the current trend for the hitmaker. Furthermore, ‘Shivers’ begins with a club clap beat and a pulsing synth that echos throughout the mix, as well as Sheeran’s beautiful high pitched vocal.

“First Times” is the third track on Ed Sheeran’s 2021 album ‘=’ or ‘Equals.’ In this song, Ed Sheeran sings how some of his biggest career achievements dwarfs in comparison to some of the smallest things in his personal life. This song will be something we can all relate to.

‘Bad Habits‘ takes the singer-songwriter into uncharted territory. Ed also adds a dancing texture to the mix and he layers his characteristic style into a new soundscape.
Sheeran appears to be entering a new phase, creating songs for himself rather than meeting audience expectations. As a result, Ed relishes many aspects of this latest gem, including a groovy texture and a dancing cadence that gets the feet tapping in a frenzy from the first second.
Ed Sheeran’s vocals are in top condition, and he sounds almost unrecognisable in the first few seconds. His voice, which is still captivating, expands the singer’s head range and he does not shy away from high notes.

‘Overpass Graffiti’ has a dynamic, fresh vibe. Furthermore, Ed has strayed from the more acoustic ballad-style content that many fans expect from him and instead takes a different path.
Ed doesn’t require much praise in terms of his vocal abilities. Even before hearing the song, we all know that his vocals will be compelling. He is always at the top of his game, which is quite a rarity in the music industry. Also, he serves as an example to other artists in the scene and newcomers.

"The Joker And The Queen"
After dating his former classmate Cherry Seaborn for several years, Ed Sheeran married her in 2018. This piano-driven ballad is an ode to the flame-haired singer's love of his life.
And I know you could fall for a thousand kings
And hearts that could give you a diamond ring
When I fold, you see the best in me
The joker and the queen
Sheeran uses playing card metaphors to illustrate how his "Queen" married a "Joker" like him.
Sheeran wrote the song with Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and songwriter/producer Fred Again, the same day they penned "Bad Habits." The English pop star told Apple Music that after coming up with "Bad Habits," he thought they were done for the day. But when Fred Again played him a piano instrumental that Sam Romans (Clean Bandit's "Tears," Jonas Blue's "Rise") had come up with, he quickly got inspired. "It was probably 15 to 20 minutes of writing down metaphors and whispering them in," Sheeran said. "I had the line 'joker and the queen', then it was like, 'I fold, you saw my hand, you let me win, you put the cards on the table.'"
For a while, Sheeran didn't like the song, as he felt it's "cheating when it's that easy." Then his brother, classical composer Matthew Sheeran, created a sweeping orchestral arrangement "and suddenly it sounded like this old classic that had been around since the '50s." He fell in love with the track and included it on Equals.

This song is a letter to his daughter, Lyra, as a way to definitively say he loves her, no matter what happens or if he’s ever not able to tell her himself. Ed Sheeran: "I flew over to Australia for the memorial of my friend Michael [Gudinski, the beloved Australian music industry figure who was a mentor to Sheeran, who died in March 2021] and was quarantining for two weeks. We watched the funeral via a live video link, and afterwards I was on the phone to his daughter, who said, ‘My dad always said that he loved me. The last thing he ever said to me was “I love you”.’ I was like, ‘My daughter is six months old. If I went tomorrow, she would never know.’ So this is a letter to her, saying that. I think this is my favourite song on the album. There aren’t a lot of lyrics in this, but every single line, I feel, means the most".

“Collide” is the eighth track on Ed Sheeran’s 2021 album ‘=’ or ‘Equals.’ The song is about the sparks when two people in love collide with each other. Ed Sheeran talks about some of his favorite memories with the person he loves the most.
On Apple Music, Ed Sheeran shared his take on the song; “I felt the album was quite morose up to this point, and I wanted to pick it up again with an uplifting song. My first-dance wedding song was “Thirteen” by Ben Kweller, which is a list of things that he did with his wife. I messaged him and said, ‘Can I do a version of that [and] it’s everything else that me and Cherry have done?’ And he said, ‘Go ahead!’ It’s a tune that, if you were at a festival, you’d be putting your hands in the air and holding a glass of cider.”

The song is reminiscent of Sheeran’s 2017 album ÷ (Divide)’s rap-like flow, and discusses Sheeran’s attitude towards life’s pace, his own struggles with the stress of his life, and how when being with another “[his] troubles turn to nothing”.

This one is all about being an adult, with Ed saying it’s inspired by constant problem solving.
“Every time I would solve a problem another would come,” he said, adding: “I think this is being an adult, when I solved a problem another three would turn up and the song is basically you can’t stop the rain so just accept it.”

“Love in Slow Motion” is the eleventh track off Ed Sheeran’s fourthcoming album, = (Equals), which finds Ed Sheeran looking at his future, spending lives with his partner, Cheery Seaborn, however he cares to enjoy every single moment with her.
Through the song, there are a couple lines that might be alluding to the Ed’s fourth album’s third song’s lyrics, First Times, whose one Ed Sheeran manifests similar wishes over his future with his wife.

“Visiting Hours” is the second single released by Ed Sheeran ahead of his fifth studio album, = (Equals).
This emotional ode to a departed loved one was debuted live at the state funeral of renowned Australian music promoter Michael Gudinski back on March 24, 2021.
Sheeran was forced to quarantine for two weeks in order to attend the funeral and noted that in that time he finished the song near the Hawkesbury River in Australia.

There are several nods to Sheeran’s daughter on =, but this one is very clearly Lyra’s song. A plinking xylophone assists the singer’s tender falsetto as he paints a world full of “rainbow sugar rivers” and “snowmen made of ice cream” to croon his little girl to sleep.

Sheeran closes the album with this club thumper stocked with minor key piano and keyboards that pulsate like aural strobe lights. “There’s nothing but the space we’re in,” he sings, deliberating wrapping with an uplifting swoop and the message to live in the moment.