It’s been seven years since Ed Sheeran released his third studio album, ÷, which became the best-selling album globally in 2017. To celebrate, the 33-year-old — who is currently traveling the globe on his much-anticipated +–=÷× Tour, creatively pronounced as “Mathematics” — took to Instagram on Monday to share a series of nostalgic photos from “the most successful era of my career.”
The first photo in the gallery is a shot of Sheeran and Rihanna at the 59th GRAMMY Awards, which Sheeran tells his followers was captured while he was telling the Barbados-born singer that the song “Shape of You” was written “originally with her in mind.”
It isn’t the first time that Sheeran has shared that he initially wrote the chart-topping single for the Anti singer. During a 2017 interview on BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show, the singer revealed that the song had been written while he was working in the studio with collaborators Steve Mac and Johnny McDaid to write songs for other singers.
“We were writing this song and I was like, ‘This would really work for Rihanna,'” he told host Nick Grimshaw at the time. “And then I started singing lyrics like ‘putting Van the Man on the jukebox’ and I was like, ‘Well, she’s not really going to sing that, is she?’ And then we sort of decided halfway through that we were just going to make it for me.”
“Shape of You” became one of the last tracks added to his album.
Even though it isn’t the first time fans have heard the story, they were still delighted by Sheeran bringing it up for the anniversary.
“I love this, thanks for sharing 😍. P.S.: i love Rihanna but thank goodness you kept shape of you!! 😋,” one user commented on Sheeran’s post with another writing, “‘Shape of You’ was on fire, glad that you opt to sing that song but a Rihanna version is also a slay.”
In another Instagram post shared on Sunday, Sheeran revealed that he also celebrated the album’s seventh anniversary by leaving signed copies of the album in record shops around Jakarta, Indonesia, for whatever lucky fans found them.
Sheeran kicked off his tour in Bahrain on Jan. 15, followed by two shows in Dubai on Jan. 19 and 20. He then took the stage in Osaka, Japan, before concluding his Japan run at the Tokyo Dome on Jan. 31.
The GRAMMY winner is set to continue his tour through Asia until March, making stops in Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, before concluding the leg in Mumbai on March 16.
Over the summer, Sheeran plans to bring his record-breaking show to Europe, with stops in Italy, Germany, Spain, and across Eastern Europe.
The Mathematics Tour has been monumental for Sheeran, with a historic moment occurring at MetLife Stadium in June 2023. His two shows in East Rutherford, New Jersey, grossed an astounding $18 million, breaking the stadium’s attendance record with 173,390 fans present. Sheeran celebrated the achievement on Instagram, expressing gratitude and reminiscing about his journey from playing small venues to breaking records in iconic stadiums.
