‘They’ve got the seven-year itch’: Fans fear Ed Sheeran is hinting his marriage to Cherry Seaborn could soon be over on new version of album as he admits to past ‘split’

Ed Sheeran first pointed out his marital problems in his album Autumn Variations, which he released in 2023.

And on Friday, Ed, 34, released a deluxe edition of his latest album, Play; this album contained 14 more songs in addition to the original version released in September.

Eight of these 14 songs appear to refer to trouble in paradise in the seven-year marriage; This leads fans to fear that they are close to breaking up and going through the infamous “seven year itch”.

Ed and Cherry, 33, are parents to five-year-old Lyra and three-year-old Jupiter. There are also plenty of references to how they desperately want things to work, and an honest account of how they’ve split things up and figured things out before.

Possibly the most telling track is Skeletons, which references light drunken late-night arguments in which Ed begs Cherry to put their fight aside until the morning.

There are 14 more songs on the new album and eight of these songs allude to the tribulation in paradise of the seven-year marriage, fans think they are experiencing a seven-year tribulation

He sings: ‘We know how to put a knife in / I got a promise that would change the course of the night / I saw a cliff and we kept going / I’m pouring fuel on the fire here / I don’t want to be your enemy.’

In the Technicolor song, Ed admits that his “attention is divided.”

Satellite expresses her desire for reconciliation as follows: ‘I spent the whole day in my head, I’m just stressed / Are we okay? / I know sometimes I say the wrong things / I’m disappointed / But sometimes we gave / And now I’m flying so close to the sun with you.’

In Crashing he sings: ‘Here we are again / Side by side, thousands of miles away / There are no words left to say / Why do we break the hearts of those we love? / We leave, we stall, we fail, we fall / We break and then we mend / I know it looks like we’re enduring / But let’s not pretend.’

In Rapture, he mutters his desire to make amends, saying: ‘I’d give anything for us.’

He writes: ‘No one in this bar knows we’ve been through things / We fall down tonight and figure it out tomorrow / Even when we heal it hurts / Is this just a phase? I hope so.’

In Spiral, he talks about his own anxiety when it comes to his relationship.

‘I couldn’t sleep, I’m overthinking everything’ / Are you reaching me? Am I not listening? / Oh, I can’t help but embrace.’

The song Problems describes the tension created in family life by the three-year Mathematics World Tour.

‘The flowers in our garden are dying / When did the water dry up? Who can say? But you want the truth, we’re no good / We have problems and we don’t know how to solve them.’

There’s also War Game, where the musical artist writes: ‘Every day we get discouraged / Trying to keep up with all the changes / The reality of what we’ve created.

‘There’s no one above or below you, all I want is you / But I feel like just offering you my love isn’t enough.’

Other telling lyrics continue: ‘We were inches away from getting out and moving forward / we were either in love or crazy.’

Fatherhood comes up in Regrets, with Ed expressing his frustration at spending time away from his daughters.

‘You’re too young to know when your daddy comes home / Every time I leave the house, you think I’m gone forever / I guess it’s from hundreds of calls, good nights on the phone / Watch this tour, I gotta handle this, but why?’

He also sincerely sings: ‘I missed so much / I really need to make up for it.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Sheeran’s representatives for comment.

Ed told how he felt like he was ‘suffocating’ after doctors found a tumor on his wife’s arm in 2023.

She explained that Cherry was diagnosed with cancer in February 2022, when she was six months pregnant with their second child.

Ed and Cherry grew up together in the same town in Suffolk, England.

They started dating in 2015 and quietly tied the knot in a small ceremony in late 2018, but the pop star didn’t confirm the marriage until July 2019.

In Crashing he sings: ‘Here we are again… Why do we break the hearts of those we love? / We leave, we linger, we fail, we fall’

Two years ago, Ed’s song Punchline from Autumn Variations focused on an exploding love, with the lyrics stating: ‘I can’t help being destructive right now. It’s been weeks since I’ve seen your manuscript’ (taken in Ed and Cherry 2018)

Ed wrote: ‘Play super deluxe now. Choosing songs for this album was very difficult, it was a huge creative experience but going to India brought it all together.’

The note continued: ‘I also wanted to perform songs created outside India.

‘There are 14 songs that aren’t on the main album, which is an album in itself, so I hope you have fun exploring them.

‘Themes, genres and collaborators are different, but they are all in the Play field. When I make an album, I dive in and cut back as much as I can, but sometimes you love certain songs so much you just have to come out into the light.’

The entertainer added: ‘This is what luxury is. 2025 is now over, it was the year of Play for me. We’re starting the Loop tour next year and I’ll be finishing whatever comes next.

‘Thank you so much for the love you’ve shown this year, it’s been incredible. Check out super deluxe now on all platforms x.’

Two years ago, Ed’s song Punchline from Autumn Variations focused on an exploding love, with the lyrics stating: ‘I can’t help being destructive right now. It’s been weeks since I saw your draft.

‘There is such a loud silence in my room. This is what losing hope can look like.’

During the emotional chorus, she continued: ‘I can’t help it but I love you so much. I can’t bear to let this go. I still feel like we can work this out or do something else.

‘I’m just flesh and bones. ‘Why is your heart so cold?’

In another track, Ed detailed his “bumpy roads” and emphasized in the song that this “isn’t the end of our lives.”

He says: ‘This is not the end of our lives, this is just a bump in the journey. I know everything will be okay.”

In her song The Day I Was Born, she sings: ‘I broke up with my lover a few months ago, if they were here I guess I wouldn’t be lonely.’

However, it is unclear which songs on the album were written from Ed’s personal experiences, as he had previously mentioned that the album was about the lives of both himself and his friend.

Ed and Cherry first met at the age of 11 while attending Thomas Mills High School in rural Suffolk.

Cherry stood out for her natural talent at junior hockey, and Ed for his obvious musical talent.

While the couple parted ways after high school, they reunited in New York in 2015 and began dating shortly after.

The key to the success of their relationship appears to be their humble Suffolk roots.

Cherry grew up in a charming period property in a village outside Framlingham with her mother Ann, father Matthew, an architect, and younger brother Charlie, who worked in the same business as his brother-in-law and wrote film and theater music.

Meanwhile, Ed lived in Framlingham with his mother, father, Imogen, John and brother Matthew, but left school at 16 to seek his fortune as a singer. He initially entertained and slept under an arch near Buckingham Palace.

Two years after they started dating, Ed proposed to Cherry in 2017.

She broke the happy news to her 19 million followers on Instagram with a sweet, yet simple photo of them embracing.

She wrote: ‘Just before the new year I found myself a fiancee. ‘We are very happy and in love, and our cats (Dorito and Calippo) are also very happy.’

The following year, the couple married in a simple ceremony a few days before Christmas.

A source said: It was very quiet; just Ed’s oldest school friends, his limited family, and the priest.

‘There were only 40 people; So there was no Taylor Swift, record company execs, royals or pop star friends. He didn’t want any fuss and wanted it to be all theirs; Just a small winter wedding.

‘Neither of them were that fussed about making a big deal about it. Cherry wanted to get it out of the way before any problems or trespassing occurred.’