''Songs I Wrote with Amy'' is an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

, independently released by

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

on 18 April 2010. All of the songs were written collaboratively by Ed Sheeran and

Amy Wadge Amy Victoria Wadge (born ) is an English singer and songwriter. She has co-written tracks with Ed Sheeran, including "Thinking Out Loud" for which she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Early life Wadge was born and brought up in B ...

. The EP is a folk album of what journalist David Nolan described as "polite, discreet adult offerings aimed at a grown-up audience," with "world-weary songs of mornings after, indecision and regret."

Background and release

''Songs I Wrote with Amy'' is the third of a series of five EPs in different genres that Ed Sheeran released independently in quick succession from 2009 to 2010. The previous EP, 2010's ''

Loose Change ''Loose Change'' is a series of films released between 2005 and 2009 that argue in favor of certain conspiracy theories relating to the September 11 attacks. The films were written and directed by Dylan Avery and produced by Korey Rowe, Jason Be ...

'', sold enough copies for Sheeran to afford to record a follow-up two months later. A few years prior, Sheeran's management company had introduced Sheeran to English singer-songwriter Amy Wadge. He traveled to Wales, where she lived, and the two wrote seven songs in two days in Wadge's shed. These included "She," about which Wadge commented to BBC Wales: "He was 17 when he came up with

he lyrics He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

I knew right then he was incredibly special." The two songwriters kept in touch and continued to write together, and Sheeran wanted her to sing backing vocals on an EP of five of their collaborations. However, Wadge was pregnant at the time with her second child and could not travel to

Sticky Studios Sticky Studios is an independent music recording studio located in Windlesham, Surrey. The studio is owned by music producer, songwriter, remixer, manager and publisher Jake Gosling. Sticky Studios is most notable for its work with artists such as ...

to record their songs. Instead, Sheeran brought in folk singer-songwriter

Leddra Chapman Anna Leddra Chapman (born 10 October 1989), better known as Leddra Chapman, is an English singer-songwriter and musician from Brentwood in Essex. She rose to prominence when her debut single, "Story", was released on 7 December 2009 to much cri ...

to record backing vocals in her place. Chapman also sang with Sheeran when he performed these songs on tour. ''Songs I Wrote with Amy'', like his last two EPs, was produced by Jake Gosling. The EP was more jazz- and folk-influenced than Sheeran's last recordings in the series, with a gentler sound and reflective lyrics, some dedicated to Sheeran's first love Alice Hibbert. Biographer Sean Smith described lead track "Fall" as "a proper soppy love song," and Nolan compared "Where We Land" to

Damien Rice Damien George Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success i ...

. Sheeran's commercial sales later grew enough for his fifth EP in the series, ''No. 5 Collaborations Project'', to reach #2 on the iTunes chart. This brought renewed attention to ''Songs I Wrote with Amy'', and the EP went on to make the iTunes chart as well. Later, after the success of Sheeran's debut '' +'', Sheeran re-released five of his EPs including ''Songs I Wrote with Amy'', which came out for the second time on 9 December 2011. He chose "Fall" as a B-side for the US release of breakout single "

The A Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court marti ...

." "Fall" would later be used in the proposal scene for the season 3 premiere of the American sitcom ''

Cougar Town ''Cougar Town'' is an American television sitcom that ran for 102 episodes over six seasons, from September 23, 2009, until March 31, 2015. The first three seasons aired on ABC, with the series moving to TBS for the remaining three seasons. ABC ...

''. In 2015, Sheeran released a new box set, '' 5''. This set featured five of his previously independently released EPs, including ''Songs I Wrote with Amy''.

Track listing

All songs written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge.

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes: *Ed Sheeran – vocals, guitar, electric guitar, co-production *

– backing vocals *Jake Gosling – keyboard, production, mixing, mastering

References

{{Authority control 2010 EPs Ed Sheeran EPs