Ed Sheeran & Jimmy Fallon Go Incognito in the NYC Subway for ‘Tonight Show’ Busking: Photos

One of Jimmy Fallon’s most popular segments on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is his subway busking bit, where he and a superstar go incognito down in the New York City subway stations to perform songs.

A number of celebrities have taken part in the series, including Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Bad Bunny, U2, Maroon 5 and more. Ed Sheeran is the latest to join the fun, rocking early-2000s emo outfits with the talk show host, complete with straight black wigs, hoodies and sunglasses.

Eventually, the gig was up and Sheeran performed hits as himself for the lucky fans who happened to walk by.

The subway busking comes following the release of his new single, “Azizam.” Sheeran explained to Fallon during an interview last week that the title of his new song translates into “my dear” in Farsi, inspired by the song’s Persian producer, Illya Salmanzadeh. “We were creating a lot of music and he suggested we create something within the Persian culture,” said Sheeran, who noted that they’ve done a full version in Farsi as well. The song recently got its live debut at a pop-up show in New Orleans, where Sheeran was joined by the second-line Soul Rebels brass band.

Sheeran also confirmed that his upcoming album is called Play and that after his Mathematics album series, which included five studio records — + (2011), x (2014), ÷ (2017), = (2021) and – (2023) — his next run is based on an idea he had when he was 18. Back then, the now-34-year-old singer cooked up a 10-album plan, starting with maths, and followed by Play, Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.

To celebrate Sheeran’s new album era, check out some exclusive photos of his subway busking segment with Fallon below, and watch the full episode on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which airs on NBC weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET before it streams the next day on Peacock.

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