Mere days before Ed Sheeran’s latest album = dropped, the English folk-pop star announced that he had contracted COVID-19 and was self-isolating as he worked towards recovery. That announcement was made back on October 24th and the singer (who is vaccinated) is no longer in quarantine. This calmed the nerves of the pop world, who were unsure if he would make his much-anticipated appearance this weekend as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live hosted by Kieran Culkin.
So this morning, Sheeran went (remotely) where every celebrity goes to set the record straight: The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM. He spoke about his recovery from COVID-19, about songs off of the new album, and a lot more. “It’s quite an odd thing getting [COVID-19] and then having to announce it to the world… I’m still sort of being treated [like I have it],” he told Stern. He further explained that announcing his diagnosis was necessary as he had to cancel three appearances and “didn’t want to be rude.”
He explained that he had “really, really bad symptoms for three days,” but that he’s very much on the road to full health and plans to appear on SNL this weekend. “I don’t know why there was a huge uproar about that,” he said. “Everyone was saying they were scrambling to find a replacement, [but] I was always playing that.”
The conversation wasn’t all about COVID-19 however, as he spoke to Stern about becoming a better parent, how losing a close friend inspired his song “Visiting Hours,” and about the conversations he had with Elton John about both of those topics.
“Elton started ringing me like once a week because he’s a father and he want[ed] to check out how I was getting on and he loved seeing Lyra on FaceTime,” he said. “No one really knows the true heart of this bloke, because I’m not the only person he does this to. I know he has the same with Brandi Carlile, I know he has the same with [Lady] Gaga. He’s just a wonderful, wonderful human and he’s constantly plugged into music.”
Sheeran also performed “Shivers” and “Overpass Graffiti,” on video, which you can watch here and get more details on his conversation with Stern.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. .
