But the US Presidential Election got in the way.
Ed Sheeran's Divide is one of 2017's most anticipated albums. And although it drops on March 3, the UK singer-songwriter was actually considering dropping it earlier. But other big events got in the way.
"The plan was to come in September and then the album was meant to come in November," he told Zane Lowe, "but the week the album was coming out was the week the presidential elections - that was just a s--t storm of media and I was like obviously if I come out with a record then no one's gonna care," he said. "And then the week after Bruno [Mars] came out, the week after The Weeknd came out and I was like..."
During the interview, Ed also talked about his year off, how intensely he worked on the new album and building his relationship with girlfriend, Cherry Seaborn.
Watch the full interview below.
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