Ed Sheeran is in Australia to play invite-only shows and promote new album

CHART topping singer songwriter Ed Sheeran has labelled social media a “toxic wasteland” after his well-documented digital detox.

Ed Sheeran in Melbourne, living life off the social media grid and enjoying it. Picture: Eugene Hyland

ED Sheeran has labelled social media a “toxic wasteland” after his well-documented digital detox.

The UK superstar logged off at the start of last year after extensive touring and travelled the globe as a tourist.

He’s only back online for business.

“Social media is a load of shit,” Sheeran said in Melbourne.

“Social media is good for pushing my music out there, it’s a brilliant platform. But there’s a large amount of stuff on there that just makes kids feel bad about themselves.

“My friend has an eight-year-old daughter who now wants to wear make up because she sees selfies of people on Instagram.

“It’s just not a healthy place. People post selfies because they feel insecure about themselves, then in turn make everyone else feel insecure about themselves because they’re looking at that photo thinking ‘Why don’t I look like that?’

“I was a victim of it, I used Snapchat for a bit, but holding your phone in front of your face while you’re doing something fun is a bit odd.

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Ed Sheeran is in Melbourne and will promote his new album heavily with two invite-only shows. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Sheeran has learned to not see life through a screen and is now a better communicator.

“I’d be a hypocrite to say don’t do it, because I did it, but all I can say is I’m enjoying my life a hell of a lot more without social media. I speak to people more,” he said.

“When I was in Australia last time (on tour in December 2015) I was glued to my phone and didn’t speak to anyone. What’s that?”

The hardworking Sheeran is down under this week to set up the release of third album Divide, due on March 3.

He is performing two invite-only shows, including temporarily relocating the Hit Network’s World Famous Rooftop to the world famous Hanging Rock in Macedon tonight, then the Sydney Opera House for Nova tomorrow.

Ed Sheeran performs at Hanging Rock in Madedon. Picture: Jaden Oswald

Ed Sheeran performed for an invitation-only audience at Hanging Rock. Picture: Jaden Oswald

Both venues had been on his bucket list — Sheeran had previously been taken to the Victorian tourist spot by his Australian promoter Michael Gudinski.

“I legitimately got lost at Hanging Rock. I was wandering around, like it was Picnic at Hanging Rock.”

It wasn’t his only tourist moment down under — Sheeran spent a stretch of his six-month sabbatical in Australia last year with girlfriend Cherry Seaborn.

“We rented a car and drove up the East Coast of Australia,” Sheeran said.

“We went to Fraser Island, that was probably my favourite part. We were staying with this dude who lived on his own and he took us fishing every day, then we cooked the fish we caught.

“We went from Melbourne up to Sydney, then Byron Bay and the Great Barrier Reef. Cherry loved it, I think she wants to move here.”

The increasingly inked Sheeran also got his most painful tattoo to date — the Sagrada Familia on his stomach — in Byron Bay.

“I passed out while it was being done,” he said. “It took seven hours.”

Sheeran’s duelling new singles Shape of You and Castle on the Hill broke streaming records in Australia and have been sitting at No. 1 and No. 2 on the ARIA chart respectively for a month.

The songs also topped the charts in the UK and US, and he became the first artist to enter the ARIA chart at No. 1 and No. 2 with two new songs simultaneously.

However, while he will ‘downsize’ to arenas overseas this year, local fans will have to wait to see him live in Australia again until 2018, when he will again bring his one-man-show to local stadiums.

Originally published as Ed Sheeran is in Australia to play invite-only shows and promote new album