Ed Sheeran spoke with Devo Brown from KiSS 92.5 about his new album, his extensive travelling in 2016, and what he finds most satisfying about his musical career. Here are some highlights from the interview.

On the meaning behind his new song Castle on the Hill:

“This is a song dedicated to my home town and my home town friends. We have zero in common except for our love for each other and our love for our home town. So I wrote a song about me growing up.”

Oh why he released Shape of You at the same time as Castle on the Hill:

“I wanted to show the different sides of the album. I didn’t want people listening to Shape of You and thinking that’s what the album is going to sound like or Castle on the Hill and thinking that’s what the album is going to sound like.”

On how he would describe his new album:

“It’s a very, very schizophrenic musical orgy. There’s just nothing really in there that “fits” on it, which I think I really like about it.”

On what he finds most satisfying about his musical career:

“Playing concerts. Having actual, real people sitting there singing my songs back. Winning a Grammy was a very special moment for me and winning awards is great, but it’s a small group of people that agree that they think you’re good. It’s very flattering, but actually having moms, dads, daughters, grandparents… people coming to concerts and screaming your lyrics back at you. You know, paying 100 dollars to come and watch you play because they love you that much. And they will drive 8 hours to get there. And they’ll sit there for the whole time and they’ll know every single word to every song. That means the world to me.”

On his extensive travelling in 2016:

“I went to Iceland, Ghana, Liberia, Italy, Dubai, Fiji, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The best thing I did was in Australia, actually. I went to Tasmania, which is just beneath Australia, but it’s still part of the same country. You can go there in big waders and stand in the ocean and shuck oysters there and then and just eat oysters. It’s really great.”