Ed Sheeran releases new single and music video 'Eyes Closed'

Ed Sheeran has released his new single “Eyes Closed,” the first song from his upcoming album “Subtract.”

In the accompanying music video, the singer is on a night out and is being followed by a blue monster, which he is unable to escape.

According to a statement, Ed originally wrote “Eyes Closed” years ago, and it started out as a breakup song. The lyrics took on a whole new meaning after he suffered a heartbreaking loss, which led him to revisit and reimagine the original version of the track.

“This song is about losing someone, feeling like every time you go out and you expect to just bump into them, and everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together,” he said. “You sorta have to take yourself out of reality sometimes to numb the pain of loss, but certain things just bring you right back into it.”

In the MV, the monster is a metaphor for grief. The singer-songwriter was inspired by the 1950 film “Harvey,” where the main character has an imaginary friend in the form of a giant rabbit that no one can see.

“There’s also a book I read my daughters where sadness is encapsulated by an imaginary creature,” he added.

Ed said he wanted to show that, “Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfing the rooms you’re in, and you can feel and see it, but no one else around you can.”

"So I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video. He gets bigger and bigger as the video goes on, till he takes up whole rooms, and is all I can see, just like sadness," he added.

“Subtract” is set to be released on May 5. Ed said the album is “honest and true to where I am in my adult life.”

His docuseries, "The Sum of It All," is coming to Disney Plus on May 3. —Nika Roque/JCB, GMA Integrated News