Ed Sheeran Reflects on the 10th Anniversary of ‘X’ Album & Which Hit He ‘Didn’t Really Like at First’

It’s been 10 years since Ed Sheeran unveiled his massively successful sophomore album, x, which gave fans enduring hits including “Thinking Out Loud,” “Don’t” and “Sing.”

“I think at the time you don’t really realize what’s happening,” he tells Billboard of his Billboard 200-chart topping 2014 album on the red carpet of the 2024 Blue Diamond Gala on Thursday (May 2), where he headlined the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation charity event. “You go from one song to the next song to the next song. At the time, I was just happy that people are liking the songs and now I look back at the album, and it’s an album people really liked, which I guess is good. It took me from arenas to stadiums and I feel like it was such an important album in my career.”

Shockingly, he had to warm up to one of the album’s biggest hits. “I remember ‘Photograph’ taking a really long time to get production right. It look a long while,” he recalls. “That was the song that I didn’t really like at first because we spent so much time doing it and it ruined it. Now, I can look back and enjoy the process.”

Since x, Sheeran hasn’t slowed down one bit. He completed his mathematical equation of albums with 2017’s ÷, 2021’s = and 2023’s –, as well as his 2019 collabs album No. 6 Collaborations Project and his most recent release, Autumn Variations. “It’s important to never do the same thing twice,” he says of keeping his career exciting after all this time. “Musically, I’m always like, ‘Have I said this before? Has a song sounded like this before?’ It’s less about what other people are doing, and more about what I’ve already done and constantly doing something different.”

The star is set to drop x (10th Anniversary Edition) on June 21, an expanded version of the 12-song original featuring nine bonus tracks, none of which have ever been available on vinyl before.