Ed Sheeran drops emotional music video for 'Old Phone'

Ed Sheeran is dialing into the past — literally — with the heartfelt new music video for his latest single “Old Phone,” released today as the second track off his upcoming album Play, due out September 12 via Gingerbread Man Records/Atlantic Records.

Directed by longtime collaborator Emil Nava, the video is a poignant visual reflection on memory, loss, and the small digital keepsakes we carry with us — or forget — on our old devices. Sheeran sets the tone with a spoken intro, revealing the song was born after he found an old phone full of photos and texts from loved ones now gone, sparking an emotional dive into the past.

To bring this concept to life, Sheeran didn’t just film a video — he built a pub. Yes, literally. He constructed the Old Phone Pub in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and invited fans to join him there, bringing meaningful messages or videos from their old phones. The video captures not just Sheeran’s performance, but real, emotional moments from fans reliving their own digital time capsules.

“I thought I’d build a pub somewhere, and do a gig,” Sheeran says in the video. “Then I put it out there to my fans and said, go on your old phone and find a message or a video that means a lot to you.”

The result is a warm, intimate collage of behind-the-scenes footage, fan contributions, and a stripped-back live performance that turns the music video into a communal memory-sharing experience.

Sheeran had previously teased “Old Phone” with a surprise appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and a duet with Noah Kahan at Santa’s Pub in Nashville — and this full release confirms it's one of his most personal projects to date.

As anticipation builds for Play, “Old Phone” reminds us that some of the most powerful stories come from the small, forgotten pixels in our pockets.