Ed Sheeran Appears to Teases Release Date For ‘Autumn Variations’ Album in Jokey ‘Damper Hamper’ Informercial
Famed Game of Thrones extra Ed Sheeran has flipped the script on Westeros’ favorite wintry warning with his recent “Autumn Is Coming” teaser campaign. Now he’s finally confirmed that his weeks of cryptic Instagram photos and videos — including a bit last week where he worked a shift at a Minneapolis LEGO store and flashed a minifig wearing a shirt with the fall-themed slogan — has a pay-off.
Related
Kind of.
The “Eyes Closed” singer made Sheerios work for it a bit, though. The information came in the form of a fake 90-second informercial from the Gingerbread Man Shopping Channel that dropped on Wednesday (Aug. 16) in which Ed plays a cheesy pitchman whose tagline is: “if you like it a bit damper, check out my hamper!”
In a fast-talking bit where he talks up the wonders of the season of leaves and soggy rain, Sheeran promises a “brand new product” that will help you – yes, you! — deliver the “glum of autumn to the folks you love most.” Okay, so what he technically appears to be selling is an apple box filled with dirty, wet clothes, mashed potatoes, a warm pint, a rake, scarf, frozen pies and other miscellaneous items.
The wind-up leads to what appears to be the album title, Autumn Variations, with an accompanying phone number (917-909-4498) revealing that while all damper hampers are currently sold out, the shop will be re-stocking on Aug. 24. At press time a spokesperson for Sheeran had not returned a request for additional information on the project.
Before the commercial dropped, Sheeran shared more details about the album in an interview with Andy Cohen for his Deep & Shallow SiriusXM podcast. When Cohen asked if “Autumn Is Coming” was a reference to new music coming in October, Sheeran said “not in October. No, but there is new music coming.”
To clarify, Sheeran said, “It’s an album about Autumn and… I kind of have no expectations for it. I sort of, I made it whilst basically I, it was the album I was trying to make and then – (subtract) happened. And then, so I kind of like have finished it over the last year and, yeah, it’s ready to come out, so I’m gonna put it out.”
The interview came ahead of an exclusive show on Monday for SiriusXM subscribers and a group of special guests at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, NY that included Howard and Beth Stern, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi, John Mayer, Brooke Shields, Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cohen, James Corden, Michael J. Fox, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld and others.
Sheeran dropped his latest maths-themed album, – (subtract), in May of this year.
Check out Sheeran’s informercial below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
