Ed Sheeran has officially pressed play on his next era, dropping new single “Azizam” Friday (April 4).
On the breezy midtempo dance track, the British pop star sings, “And if love’s just a game, come and play/Azizam / Meet me on the floor tonight/ Show me how to move like the water/ In between the dancing lights/ Be mine, be mine, Azizam.”
As Sheeran explained on The Tonight Show last week, “Azizam” means “my dear” in Farsi, inspired by producer Illya Salmanzadeh’s Persian heritage. The four-time Grammy winner has been teasing the song for weeks, unveiling a snippet on Instagram in mid-March and revealing at the time, “Album done. Single soon. I’m very excited as you can tell.”
The “Shape of You” singer first debuted “Azizam” live on the streets of New Orleans during a surprise performance in the city’s French quarter, accompanied by the Soul Rebels brass band. He’s been on a roll with pop-up performances, also showing up at an Irish pub in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day and at Nashville bar Tootsies to sing for unsuspecting guests.
Also on Tonight, Sheeran announced that his next album — for which “Azizam” will serve as the lead single — will be titled Play, the first in his next album series. The next albums will be called Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.
Sheeran hasn’t dropped an album since 2023’s Autumn Variations, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. He’s currently on a break from his yearslong Mathematics Tour as he’s promoting “Azizam” and Play, but the trek will resume late April in Qatar.
Listen to “Azizam” below.
