Ed Sheeran, 30, serenaded the Saturday Night Live crowd! The British-born singer returned to Studio 8H for the November 6 episode, where he performed his new song “Shivers,” the second single from his latest album =, which came out Oct. 29. Ed then returned to the stage with an energetic performance of “Overpass Graffiti,” another track from his new album.
The appearance comes just weeks after the GRAMMY winner confirmed that he had contracted COVID-19. “Hey guys, quick note to tell you that I’ve sadly tested positive for Covid, so I’m now self-isolating and following government guidelines,” he wrote to his millions of followers on Oct. 24. His quarantine arrangements changed plans for his in-person commitments to promote his latest album, dubbed =.
“It means that I’m now unable to plough ahead with any in-person commitments for, so I’ll be doing as many of my planned interviews/performances I can from my house,” he added. “Apologies to anyone I’ve let down, be safe everyone x,” the Suffolk native signed off.
While reports surfaced shortly after that show runner Lorne Michaels and SNL producers were “scrambling” to replace Ed, the ginger cleared debunked the rumors in an interview. “Yeah, I don’t know why there was a huge furor about that. Everyone was saying they were scrambling to find a replacement,” he said to the Sirius XM host Howard Stern.
“I was always playing that. I tested for COVID and I announced it a couple days afterward because I had to cancel stuff, basically. But it’s quite an odd thing, getting that and then having to announce it to the world, and then suddenly… Like, I’m now out of it now, and I’m still sort of being treated…” he trailed off, as Howard finished, “like you have it.”
This marks Ed’s third appearance on the long running NBC sketch series: he made his debut in April 2014 with songs “Sing” and “Don’t” on an episode hosted by Seth Rogen. The singer appeared for a second time in 2017 to perform his massive single “Shape Of You” as well as “Castle On A Hill” from album ÷.