"From 2011 to 2019, everything I put out worked. Everything. It would, I'd release it, it would go platinum. And I think when that stopped happening and you start going, wait, do I know, do I kind of know? So I think that's when you start losing a bit of confidence."
"One of the things when we spoke a decade ago, one of the things you said to me that really no true pop star had ever said to me was how much you love statistics. Is that what's informing what you just described. Like, are you still granular on the charts, granular on the streaming data, things like that. I sort of got over all of that I'd say end of Divide Tour. All of that was linked to being like, quite unpopular, nerdy kid at school who played music that everyone took the piss out of and no one ever really thought that I'd be successful."
"And then success starting to happen and me getting obsessed with the fact that success was happening and it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger and being like, how far can I push this. And I think that, I describe it, if Usain Bolt sets a record, someone's going to break that record eventually. And I think he's probably got over that fact. But I think me, I was like, everything I was doing seemed to be working"
Ed Sheeran experienced consistent commercial success from 2011 through 2019, with releases routinely achieving platinum status. When that streak ended, he faced a loss of confidence and began questioning his instincts. He had been closely engaged with statistics, charts, and streaming data but moved away from that emphasis by the end of the Divide Tour. That obsession with measurable success grew from feeling like an unpopular, underestimated kid who wanted to prove himself. He pushed to set and extend records, then recognized records get broken and adjusted his priorities toward artistic and personal fulfillment.
Read at www.nytimes.com
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