Songfacts®:

• "Sapphire" is a cross-cultural celebration, blending Ed Sheeran's signature pop songwriting with South Asian musical influences. Sheeran released it as the third single from his eighth album, Play, on June 5, 2025. Like the album's lead single, the Persian-flavored "Azizam," this track draws deeply from Asian influences, though this time the spotlight is firmly on India.
• The song is a glittering declaration of romantic devotion, complete with a lyric about never wanting to stop dancing with someone whose aura sparkles like the blue gem for which the track is named. Sheeran even throws in a line of Punjabi in the chorus ("they sparkle just like stars"), just in case you weren't already picturing the whole thing through a filter of marigolds and moonlight.
• The song features vocals and sitar by Indian superstar Arijit Singh, plus a joyful riot of South Asian instrumentation: tabla, dhol, dholak, santoor - if it rattles, rings, or reverberates with intricate rhythmic precision, it's probably in there.
• The Citizens of the World Choir provide backing vocals. They are a London-based choir made up of refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and local community members.
• Sheeran produced the track alongside Ilya, Johnny McDaid and Savan Kotecha, with additional writing credits going to Arijit Singh and Indian lyricists Mayur Puri and Avinash Chouhan.
  
  "'Sapphire' was the first song I finished for Play that made me know where the album was heading," said Sheeran. "It's why I finished the recording process in Goa surrounded by some of the best musicians in India. It was an incredible creative process."
• Directed by Liam Pethick, the video was filmed across various locations in India during Sheeran's tour through the country earlier in 2025. We see the English musician explore beaches, walk through bustling markets, visit a Bollywood soundstage and ride an auto-rickshaw. Arijit Singh appears throughout, and the video ends with a cameo from Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.
• Ed Sheeran released a Punjabi version of "Sapphire" featuring Arijit Singh on July 24, 2025. This collaboration includes English, Hindi, and Punjabi lyrics, with both Sheeran and Singh singing in multiple languages throughout the track.
• During an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, Sheeran singled out "Sapphire" as a standout track from Play. Among the 300-plus songs he wrote for the record, he said "Sapphire" was a "gut-favorite" that resonated with him instantly.