Watch Ed Sheeran Perform “Shape of You” on ‘SNL’

As part of the promotional run for his upcoming album, Divide, Ed Sheeran made his second career appearance on the Saturday Night Live stage. Sheeran’s appearance, combined with another shot at hosting duties for Alec Baldwin, made for a highly-anticipated episode.

For his first song, Sheeran performed “Shape of You,” and concluded the night with “Castle on the Hill.” You can watch video of “Shape of You” above, and “Castle on the Hill” here.

Sheeran hit the ground running at the beginning of 2017, unveiling lyrics and the name for his new album, ÷, within the first few days of the new year. The lyrics were eventually revealed to be part of “Castle on the Hill” and “Shape of You”, two singles for the upcoming album. In the first day after their release on Spotify, the two singles broke previous streaming records for the service with over 13 million combined in 24 hours, surpassing the record previously set by Adele’s song, “Hello”. ÷ is set to release on March 3. 

The English singer/songwriter has been a force in America since 2012, when he made an important appearance on Taylor Swift’s album, Red. Sheeran and Swift ended up being nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, and he had the privilege of performing the song, “The A Team,” alongside Elton John at the awards ceremony. 

Tonight’s appearance was the first for Sheeran since he was teasing new songs on SNL back in 2014 for his second studio album, x (shorthand for “multiply”). His single from x, “Thinking Out Loud,” won the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.