A few years ago, Ed Sheeran won a lawsuit that had accused him of plagiarizing his hit "Thinking Out Loud." As a result, he now scrupulously documents every song he writes — which is lucky for us fans.

"I film every studio session i do now since the lawsuit, just to show my writing process if anyone is curious," Ed writes on Instagram. "turns out it makes for great viewing once the song is done. the creating and making of azizam is on youtube now, go watch the whole thing."

"Azizam," the first single from Ed's new album, Play, is coming out Friday. You can watch the song come to life in the studio now, with Ed and his three co-writers bouncing ideas off each other.

Meanwhile, if you preorder the physical "Azizam" single, you'll get an exclusive bonus track called "Crashing," which Ed has posted a snippet of himself performing. "This song ain't on the album btw, only exists on the cd and vinyl x," Ed commented on the post on his official Instagram account.

There's still no release date for Play.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.