Ed Sheeran’s Old Phone Lyrics Meaning: A Reflection Carried by Strings

Ed Sheeran’s Old Phone begins with reflection, setting a quiet tone that stays close to the memory it unpacks.

The song was released on May 2, 2025, as the second single from his upcoming album Play, a project he’s described as the most excited he’s ever been to share.

Co-produced with ILYA and Blake Slatkin, the track leans into acoustic textures, with nothing rushing to fill the space. The guitar holds steady, surrounding Sheeran’s voice without crowding it.

The inspiration behind Old Phone traces back to a real moment during a lawsuit over Thinking Out Loud.

Sheeran was asked to turn in old devices. Switching on a phone he hadn’t touched in years, he found a collection of messages waiting.

“The first message was from my friend Jamal Edwards, who had recently passed away,” Sheeran shared on Instagram.

“The second was from my ex-girlfriend who I hadn’t been in contact with for years. The third was a family member I haven’t spoken to in a decade. And so on. It felt like a time capsule, a time of life that I was in, and living at that time in 2015. Turning it on really spun me out, I found myself scrolling messages and conversations with people who are no longer here.”

The phone became a kind of archive he hadn’t chosen to curate. The line “I found my old phone today / In a box that I had hidden away” lands without embellishment, setting the tone for the discoveries that follow.

Each verse moves through snapshots left behind in those messages. There’s no attempt to frame them as lessons; they arrive as they are.

“Conversations with my dead friends / Messages from all my exes” reads like a list rather than a lyric designed for resolution.

The phone becomes both an object and a mirror, reflecting parts of himself he wasn’t actively revisiting until that moment.

The chorus doesn’t push toward closure. “So full of love, yet so full of hate / I put it back inside there from whence it came” doesn’t signal healing or finality.

It reads as an action taken without fanfare, a quiet decision to leave certain doors unopened. The song holds this balance without tipping into sentimentality or self-pity.

During his live debut of Old Phone on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sheeran performed alone under a soft spotlight.

There was no visual spectacle, no added instrumentation beyond the guitar. The performance matched the song’s tone, keeping attention on the lyrics without distraction.

In one verse, he sings, “The ones who loved me, I just pushed them away / Couldn’t tell the difference from the leeches.”

The line doesn’t stretch into explanation. It sits inside the song like another message he’s come across, something recorded at the time but only now being read again.

The bridge doesn’t deliver a revelation. “There’s no point in fixating on past mistakes” comes through like a spoken reminder rather than a lyric trying to tie things together.

Dropping the phone back into the box becomes the only gesture the song allows, not framed as growth or regret but as an action that closes the loop for now.

Old Phone doesn’t follow a narrative arc. It moves through moments found rather than moments sought. The production stays understated, leaving space around each lyric.

The phone, as an object, carries weight without becoming a metaphor that needs decoding.

Sheeran doesn’t invite the listener into a lesson. He lets them look into the box with him, and then closes it.

The song stands as part of Play, due September 12, an album Sheeran has linked to joy and experimentation.

Old Phone sits differently within that context, quieter, reflective, more private. It doesn’t point outward or seek agreement. It remains in the room it builds, quietly observing what’s been left behind.

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Ed Sheeran Old Phone Lyrics

Verse 1
I found my old phone today
In a box that I had hidden away
Nostalgia tryin’ to lead me astray
Maybe I’ll unwrite some wrongs
I charged the battery again
Combinations ’cause my passcode had changed
Opened up and saw familiar names
Now I wonder where they’ve gone

Chorus
Conversations with my dead friends
Messages from all my exes
I kinda think that this was best left
In the past where it belongs
I feel an overwhelming sadness
Of all the friends I do not have left
Seeing how my family has fracturеd
Growin’ up and movin’ on

Verse 2
I found my old phone today
Arguments that I tried to keep at bay
Thе ones who loved me, I just pushed them away
Couldn’t tell the difference from the leeches
My closed hand still holds some mates
But if I’m open, it gets smaller day by day
I can’t tell if it is pleasure or pain
Trying to keep within my remit

Chorus
Conversations with my dead friends
Messages from all my exes
I kinda think that this was best left
There in the past where it belongs
I feel an overwhelming sadness
Of all the friends I do not have left
Seeing how my family has fractured
Growin’ up and movin’ on

Post-Chorus
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh
Ooh

Bridge
I found my old phone today
So full of love, yet so full of hate
I put it back inside there from whence it came
Nothing good will come from regretting

Chorus
Conversations with my dead friends
Messages from all my exes
I kinda think that this was best left
There in the past where it belongs
I feel an overwhelming sadness
Of all the friends I do not have left
Seeing how my family has fractured
Growin’ up and movin’ on

Outro
I found my old phone today