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Lore & Background

Having written "hundreds" of songs, Sheeran entered the studio with Rick Rubin and cut that down to the 15 new songs on the album, excluding "I See Fire". Sheeran stated he "started off making another acoustic record, and it turned into a neo-soul-funk record," due to the influence of working with producers like Rubin and Benny Blanco that "pulled [him] out of [his] comfort zone." Getting into the studio with Rubin to "rerecord all the songs" after two years of writing them made the songs sound "raw and interesting". However, doing an entire album with Rubin "just wouldn't work on pop radio", so after working with Rubin he wrote "I'm a Mess" and "Thinking Out Loud" with a different producer. Jake Gosling, who co-wrote and produced most of Sheeran's debut, has no writing credits on this album, while new collaborators include Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody and British drum and bass band Rudimental. "One" was the first song Sheeran wrote for the album, written on a guitar made from a whisky barrel in a hotel room in Perth in 2011. "Don't", about a girlfriend who cheated on Sheeran with a close friend, was recorded first with Benny Blanco, then again with Rick Rubin, and the two producers came together to produce the final cut. "Photograph", written with Johnny McDaid while touring with Snow Patrol in May 2012, started life as a "piano loop playing on [McDaid's] laptop" which Sheeran started singing along to. Sheeran has stated "it will be the one that will change my career path". "Bloodstream" is about Sheeran's experience of taking MDMA during a friend's wedding party in Ibiza. "Afire Love" was written about Sheeran's grandfather "two weeks before he passed away" and finished at his funeral.

In Their Own Story

The lead single, "Sing", became Sheeran's first UK number-one song, reached number 13 in the US and peaked inside the top 10 in several other countries. The second single, "Don't", peaked at No. 8 in the UK and number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sheeran's first top-10 single in the US. The album's third single, "Thinking Out Loud", achieved international success, peaking at number one in 12 countries, and the top five in 12 more. It became Sheeran's second UK number-one single and has been certified 7× Platinum, with sales of over 4.2 million copies in the UK. "Thinking Out Loud" also became Sheeran's biggest hit in the US at the time, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, until he released "Shape of You", which debuted at number one. The album's fourth single, a remix of "Bloodstream", peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the fourth-consecutive single from x to hit the top 10 in Sheeran's native country. "Photograph" was released as the album's fifth and final single, giving Sheeran his fifth consecutive top 10 single from the album in Australia and New Zealand, peaking at numbers nine and eight, respectively.

Reader's Guide

The 10th anniversary edition of the album with bonus tracks was released on 21 June 2024. x has been certified 13× Platinum in the UK with sales of over 3.9 million copies, making it the third best-selling album of the 2010s and the 20th best selling album in the history of the UK. The album has been certified Diamond in Canada, 16× Platinum in New Zealand, and 5× Platinum in the US, with sales of over five million copies. It also became the first album ever to be certified Diamond in Australia. x broke Adele's record for the longest charting top 10 album in the history of the United Kingdom. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and at the 57th Grammy Awards it was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year. "Thinking Out Loud" was the last song written for the album, and it is also Sheeran's favourite. Written about Sheeran's then-current girlfriend after the recording sessions with Rick Rubin were over, it is a "soul" song, and Sheeran "pinned [it] as the 'walking down the aisle' song." He described it as "the only happy song on the album", and he wrote it in his kitchen. "Tenerife Sea", first played in demo form at Sheeran's sold out Madison Square Garden shows, is "trademark acoustic balladry". Sheeran wrote the song about his mother, whose eyes were "crystal blue - the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen".

Did You Know?

• Spotify named x the most-streamed album in the world for 2014, racking up more than 430 million streams for the year.
• x became the first album ever to be certified Diamond in Australia.
• The album broke Adele's record for the longest charting top 10 album in the history of the United Kingdom.
• "Thinking Out Loud" was written in Sheeran's kitchen and is the only song he described as 'the only happy song on the album'.
• "Afire Love" was written about Sheeran's grandfather two weeks before he passed away, and Sheeran finished writing the song at his funeral.