Taylor Swift to One Direction: Ed Sheeran’s pre-2016 photo haul is all things nostalgia — with an India connect!

Given Ed Sheeran’s nature, it wouldn’t be unexpected if he suddenly flooded the internet with around 210 photos — gathered into a single post, each with a detailed caption on a completely new Instagram account — simply for fun. However, the entire activity is actually connected to his forthcoming single called Old Phone.

What makes this entire experience truly delightful is that all the pictures date back to December 2015 and earlier. This amounts to nearly ten years of missed moments, with most never showcased to the public, highlighting both past and present pop royalty such as Taylor Swift and Harry Styles (and indeed, considering the timeline, the original One Direction group as well).

As we and the internet enjoy flipping through this memory dump, the accompanying caption in the shared post by Ed on his original Instagram account, teddysphotos, reveals the deeper intention behind it.

Back in 2014, Ed was sued for his hit track Thinking out Loud. The estate of Marvin Gaye claimed that the song had elements from Let’s Get It On — he was cleared by a jury in November. Ed explained, “When I got sued, the judge ordered me to give up my old devices to the other sides lawyers, to look through messages, emails, voice notes, videos, etc, to see if there’s was anything on there to help their case. In the process, I switched on my old phone”. And what he found were messages — from a friend who had since, passed away, an ex-girlfriend he had been in no-contact with and even a family member who he had been estranged with.

This, along with sifting through numerous discussions with individuals who were once part of his life but are now absent, motivated him to compose Old Phone at 2 AM while he was experiencing jet lag — in India! It was captured the following morning and will be released later this week.

Beyond the song itself, it’s Ed’s final remark in the caption that gives us something to ponder. “Maybe it makes you switch on your old phone and have a look at where you were a decade ago too”.