Songfacts®:

• Ed Sheeran released this sexy, upbeat song as the second single from his = album on September 10, 2021. Fans had predicted he'd title the album – as the natural progression from his previous titles of + (2011), × (2014) and ÷ (2017). Speaking to GQ magazine, Sheeran explained this buoyant track is one reason he called it = (Equals) and not – (Minus).
  
  "I was making the record and I wrote a song called 'Shivers' and I was like, 'This doesn't really feel like [Minus],' same with another song called 'Overpass Graffiti,' he said. "And none of these songs fitted in with what [Minus] would be, eventually."
• The song finds Sheeran getting seriously lustful over his hot lover, who's giving him the "shivers."
  
  I never kissed a mouth that tastes like yours
  
  This is not the first time Sheeran has sung about mouth taste on a single. Back in 2014, he crooned on "Thinking Out Loud":
  
  Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love
  
  That song was about his then-girlfriend, Athina Andrelos. On "Shiver," Sheeran's muse is his wife, Cherry Seaborn, whom he started dating in 2015 and married four years later.
• Sheeran wrote the song as soon as his Divide tour ended in late summer 2019. He rented a farm in Suffolk where he set up a studio with his collaborators for a fortnight "to see what happened."
• Sheeran penned "Shiver" over the course of three days, which is unusual for him as he is normally a quick writer. He said he felt it was "too special to get wrong."
• Johnny McDaid, Kal Lavelle and Steve Mac are the other credited writers, with Fred Again also attributed as co-producer.
  
  Johnny McDaid, Steve Mac and Fred Again are frequent Sheeran collaborators, but Kal Lavelle is not such a recognizable name. An Irish singer-songwriter based in London, she went on tour with Sheeran following the release of her first EP in June 2011. They'd previously penned one song together, the unreleased "Could Just Be The Bassline."
  
  Interestingly, the title track of Lavelle's debut EP is also titled "Shivers" and has the same theme of getting tremors from a love interest. Sheeran probably added Lavelle to this song's credits because of the similarities between the two "Shivers" tunes.
• Sheeran originally intended this to be the first single from =, but decided "Bad Habits" was a better bet as a summer release. "Shivers always felt more autumnal," he said.
• Dave Meyers directed the surreal music video. It shows Sheeran meeting a woman, played by American actress AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia, Soul Surfer). The singer tries to woo Robb in several freaky scenarios, including a runaway train, a street fight, and by channeling Elton John.
  
  Meyers previously filmed Sheeran's visuals for "Antisocial" and "Bad Habits."
• Ed Sheeran performed the song live for the first time at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2021. He played it along with "Bad Habits."
• Sheeran performed this song and "Overpass Graffiti" on the November 8, 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live. It marked Sheeran's third time serving as musical guest on the comedy show following appearances in 2014 and 2017.
• Ed Sheeran released a K-pop remix in collaboration with Korean stars Jessi and Sunmi on November 24, 2021. The reworked version of "Shivers" opens with a brand-new verse, in both Korean and English, from Sunmi. A rap from Jessi replaces Sheeran's second verse.