Music

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran found a love for the North Shore town that was prominently featured in his newest music video, “Old Phone.”

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran found a love for a North Shore town that was prominently featured in his newest music video, “Old Phone.”

The Grammy award-winning artist visited Ipswich in late March to perform at a one-day pop-up bar that he built and named after his new song, which will be featured on his eighth studio album “Play.”

The concept of the song, which Sheeran explains at the start of the video, “is all about finding my old phone. I was finding text messages from people that aren’t even here anymore and reading conversations with people that I wish I could have conversations with now.”

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The music video features original footage from Sheeran’s team during his trip to Massachusetts, as well as clips from WBZ News and WCVB. Sheeran performed the song to a large crowd on an Ipswich road and inside his temporary pub, built behind EBSCO Hall.

Entry into the pub required fans to find old messages or videos that had special significance to them and send them to a text line set up by Sheeran. Some stories were shared in the “Old Phone” music video.

One woman shared a video of her two daughters playing in the driveway in front of their home. 

“They are two of five. These two are on this side of heaven and the other three are on the other side,” the mother said in the video. “They were just goofing off and just being sisters.”

A young woman sent in a video of her and her friends playing in the snow two days after she and her long-term boyfriend broke up. She said she was “happy now and I think that’s the most important thing.”

A man submitted a video of him and his grandmother dancing at a wedding. He shared that his grandmother passed away two years ago but had “so much life, so much joy in her heart and her spirit.”

“We were just moving around like it’s just us two in the world and I miss her,” he said.

Each of these videos were projected on the side of Ipswich Ale Brewery, viewed by over 100 fans and residents. Sheeran is seen in the video speaking to each person who had their video shown.

In addition to his visit to Ipswich, Sheeran made a surprise appearance at downtown bar The Dubliner for St. Patrick’s Day and performed his critically acclaimed song “Galway Girl.”

Sheeran said his intention behind creating his bar was to make the atmosphere feel like the song, which is “raw, stripped back, emotional, nostalgic, and special.”

“It was really cool to watch that and be able to share with him some of our stories,” the mother in the video said. “That was nice.”

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