Taylor Swift to One Direction: Ed Sheeran's pre-2016 photo haul is all things nostalgia — with an India connect!
So Ed Sheeran clearly has this thing where he can evoke nostalgia in you for moments you've never even had. First it was his songs, now it's his photo dump
Knowing Ed Sheeran, it wouldn't be a surprise if he just happened to bombard the internet with as many as 210 pictures — collated into a post each with a descriptive caption on an all-together new Instagram account — just for kicks. But the whole exercise actually ties into his upcoming single titled Old Phone. What makes this whole thing an absolute treat is the fact that all the photos are from December 2015 and before. So this is like a decade worth of lost moments, most of them never seen by the public, featuring then and now pop royalty names like Taylor Swift and Harry Styles (and yes, given the time frame, the OG One Direction gang too).
While us and the internet is having a gala time swiping through this memory dump, the adjoining caption in the joint post made by Ed to his original Instagram account teddysphotos, explains the deeper purpose behind it.
Back in 2014, Ed was sued for his hit track Thinking out Loud. The estate of Marvin Gaye claimed that the song had elements from Let's Get It On — he was cleared by a jury in November. Ed explained, "When I got sued, the judge ordered me to give up my old devices to the other sides lawyers, to look through messages, emails, voice notes, videos, etc, to see if there’s was anything on there to help their case. In the process, I switched on my old phone". And what he found were messages — from a friend who had since, passed away, an ex-girlfriend he had been in no-contact with and even a family member who he had been estranged with.
This and scrolling through countless conversations with people who had been in his life but aren't there anymore is what inspired him to write Old Phone at 2AM when he was in jet lagged — in India! It was recorded the very next morning and will be out later this week.
More than the song itself, it's Ed's concluding note on the caption which leaves us with some food for thought: "Maybe it makes you switch on your old phone and have a look at where you were a decade ago too".
