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Ed Sheeran’s ‘Play’ Deluxe Reveals Marital Strain and Fatherhood Regrets

The 13 new songs point to his three-year Mathematics World Tour as a source of distance at home.

Overview

  • The newly released deluxe edition adds 13 tracks that link family tensions to a three-year tour reported as 188 shows across five continents.
  • In Problems, Sheeran writes that “we’re not fine” and “we got problems, and we don’t know how to solve them,” presenting the relationship as in crisis.
  • War Game details feeling deflated and being “inches from movin’ out and movin’ on,” suggesting the couple neared a breaking point.
  • Regrets expresses remorse over missed time with daughters Lyra and Jupiter, including the line “Every time I leave the house, you think I’m forever gone.”
  • Other songs such as Freedom, Crashing, Technicolour and Rapture signal reconciliation, with coverage based on lyrics and no representative comment immediately available.