After a week of rumors that Ed Sheeran would have to forgo his Saturday Night Live performance after recently testing positive for Covid-19, the English singer-songwriter returned to Studio 8H with two songs from his new album, =. Sheeran told Howard Stern there was never a question he would make the live performance, despite having “really, really, really bad symptoms” for three days.
With just an acoustic guitar, Sheeran gave a rousing performance of the upbeat “Shivers.” His second set featured his recent single, the love-affirming, electric guitar-inflected “Overpass Graffiti.”
= is Sheeran’s first album as a new father to his one-year-old daughter, Lyra. During a recent interview in the UK, the singer-songwriter spoke about how music is already something they share: “She loves Black Sabbath,” Sheeran told Jonathan Ross. “Paranoid album. Starting off with “War Pigs” in the morning, it’s the best.”