Happy Christmas?

In news that will either provoke apathy, devastation or delight, Ed Sheeran is taking a break from music. The flame-haired troubadour has undoubtedly dominated the decade, performing huge sell-out gigs the world over and bothering the charts to record-breaking success to the point that the Official Charts Company crowned him UK Artist of the Decade. He's also been a regular visitor to Ireland and even popped up in Game of Thrones, which everyone enjoyed, right? In August, Sheeran told the crowd at a show in Ipswich that he would be taking an 18-month hiatus from touring after two years on the road in support of his Divide album. As of Christmas Eve, the 28-year-old has moved to make those plans official, even throwing social media into the mix. Having quit Twitter some time ago, Sheeran used his Instagram account to break the news. "Hello all," he began. "Gonna go on another break again. The Divide era and tour changed my life in so many ways but now it's all over it's time to go out and see some more of the world. "I've been a bit non-stop since 2017 so I'm just gonna take a breather to travel, write and read. I'll be off all social media until it's time to come back. "To my family and friends, see ya when I see ya - and to my fans, thank you for always being amazing, I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I've lived a little more to actually have something to write about. "Lots of love x." And just like that, he was gone. At the end of October, Sheeran's longterm manager Stuart Camp teased a forthcoming fifth record, talking up quite a big game indeed. "We've done that on the previous two albums where we have to keep going until we absolutely know that the thing we come back with is undeniable, and that is a lot of work," said Camp. "Ed will make a record and we'll just push, push, push and the last three weeks of recording we've done, the bangers just come flying out." Camp also noted that Sheeran wasn't close to burning out in terms of the public consciousness: "We're very conscious of not doing overkill," he said. "Bizarrely, we've been doing it for 10 years where we really have overkilled, but no one seems to be sick of it." Well, someone seems to be, mate. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6dFOwZB6Jn/