Ed Sheeran has announced the release date of his new album and he’s explained how he “spiralled through fear, depression and anxiety” last year when his wife was diagnosed with a tumour and his close friend Jamal Edwards died.

Cherry Seaborn, who he married in 2019, was told by doctors she had a tumour while pregnant with their second child, the chart-topping singer revealed.

Music entrepreneur Edwards, who was made an MBE for his services to music in 2014, died on February 20 last year at the age of 31.

Sheeran’s new album, Subtract, was influenced by these events.

Taking to Instagram, Ed Sheeran said: “I had been working on Subtract for a decade, trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then at the start of 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.

“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out. And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts.

“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth. My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.

“I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.

“As an artist I didn’t feel like I could credibly put a body of work into the world that didn’t accurately represent where I am and how I need to express myself at this point in my life. This album is purely that. It’s opening the trapdoor into my soul. For the first time I’m not trying to craft an album people will like, I’m merely putting something out that’s honest and true to where I am in my adult life.

“This is last February’s diary entry and my way of making sense of it. This is Subtract.”

Sharing a video to Instagram, Sheeran said the new album will be released on May 5, 2023 and fans can pre-order it now.