"Overpass Graffiti" is a song by British singer-songwriter

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 ...

, released through

Asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...

and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

on 29 October 2021, as the third single from his fifth studio album, '' ='' (2021). It was written and produced by Sheeran,

Johnny McDaid Johnny McDaid (born 24 July 1976) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is a member of Snow Patrol and a former member of Vega4. McDaid has written songs with artists including Ed Sheeran, P!nk and Robbie Willia ...

and

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

Promotion and release

On 19 August 2021, Sheeran announced his fifth studio album, '' ='', in which the song is listed on the tracklist. He later performed the song for

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Tiny Desk Concert ''Tiny Desk Concerts'' is a video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of former '' All Songs Considered'' host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. The first ''Tiny Desk Concert'' came about in 2008 after Boilen and NPR Music ed ...

series on 26 October 2021. On 29 October 2021, "Overpass Graffiti" was released alongside the album as the third single.

Composition

"Overpass Graffiti" is in its fast tempo which is written in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

and it is composed in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

( time).

Lyric video

A lyric video for the song was uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on 29 October 2021 along with the other lyric videos of the songs that appeared on the tracklisting of ''=''.

Music video

The music video of the song was released on 29 October 2021 on Sheeran's

account the same day as its parent album's release, which was directed by Jason Koenig who previously directed the official music videos for "

Shape of You "Shape of You" is a song by English singer Ed Sheeran. It was released on 6 January 2017 as one of the lead single, double lead singles from his third studio album ''÷ (album), ÷'' (2017), along with "Castle on the Hill". The Dancehall pop, ...

", " Galway Girl", "

Perfect Perfect commonly refers to: * Perfection; completeness, and excellence * Perfect (grammar), a grammatical category in some languages Perfect may also refer to: Film and television * ''Perfect'' (1985 film), a romantic drama * ''Perfect'' (20 ...

", " South of the Border" and " Put It All on Me". In the music video, Sheeran, playing himself, is accidentally left behind by his

tour bus A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions. Information Double-decker buses and open top buses are commonly used, for provid ...

during a late-night stop in an unspecified area of the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

. He ends up going on wild adventures and meeting different people along the way. This ranges from going camping with a group of teens, going wild in a glow-in-the-dark party, riding with a

biker gang An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or club (in Australia), is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purpo ...

, and riding in an old

station wagon A station wagon (American English, US, also wagon) or estate car (British English, UK, also estate) is an automotive Car body style, body-style variant of a Sedan (automobile), sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo ...

with a family as they chase down his tour bus. The music video features retired professional

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler

Yamamotoyama Ryūta , known by his ''shikona'' , or simply Yama, is a Japanese retired sumo wrestler from the city of Saitama in Saitama Prefecture. He made his professional debut in January 2007, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 2009. His hig ...

(credited as "Yama"), who appears towards the end of the clip inviting Sheeran for a ride on the bus. The video also features a cameo from

Emilio Rivera Emilio Rivera (born February 24, 1961) is an American film and television actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known for his portrayal of Marcus Álvarez in ''Sons of Anarchy'' and its spin-off, '' Mayans M.C.'' He is also known for his d ...

. Finally, the snippet of the Japanese cover of Sheeran's smash-hit "

" by Japanese singer MARINA plays during the end credits, as the bus (now with Sheeran on it) drives away. In a very brief scene in the glow-in-the-dark party, the female boxer, Jennie Pegouskie, from the "Shape of You" music video (in which Yamamotoyama also starred), appears in a boxing stance with Sheeran. The music video's credits reveal it was filmed at two

movie ranch A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. Movi ...

es in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

s just east of the city of

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-most populous city in Los Angeles County, the 17th-most popul ...

: Middleton Ranch (in

Soledad Canyon Soledad Canyon is a long narrow canyon/valley located in Los Angeles County, California between the cities of Palmdale and Santa Clarita. It is a part of the Santa Clara River Valley, and extends from the top of Soledad Pass to the open plain ...

), and

Golden Oak Ranch Golden Oak Ranch is an movie ranch owned by the Walt Disney Studios subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that serves as a filming location and backlot. The ranch is off of Placerita Canyon Road outside of Newhall, Santa Clarita, California, l ...

Critical reception

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' described the song as " new wave-esque". In an album review, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said of the song, "At least the best song on the album is also the one that seems destined to be his next you'll-hear-it-till-you're-sick-of-it smash: “Overpass Graffiti”, a moody, synth-streaked '80s throwback that sounds like a more melancholy update of

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

's "

Young Turks The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, ...

." In an article about the song,

Genius Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...

described it as "an '80s

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

-inspired song about struggling to let go after a breakup."

Track listing

*Digital download, streaming and CD single #"Overpass Graffiti" – 3:56 *Digital download and streaming #"Overpass Graffiti" (

Alle Farben Frans Zimmer (born 5 June 1985), better known by his stage name Alle Farben (meaning ''All Colours'' in German) is a German DJ and Music producer, producer. Since 2014 Zimmer is signed to the record label Guesstimate/b1 Recordings and the publishi ...

Remix) – 3:23 *Digital download and streaming #"Overpass Graffiti" (

TCTS Samuel David O'Neill, known by his stage name TCTS, is an English DJ and record producer from Manchester. He is signed to Chase & Status' record label, MTA. O'Neill is best known for his 2014 song "Games", which reached number 29 on the UK Dan ...

Remix) – 4:36

Credits and personnel

– vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriting, production, writing *

– backing vocals, bass, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, production, engineering, songwriting *

– bass, drums, keyboards, programming, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, production, engineering, songwriting * Louise Clare Marshall – additional vocals * Stuart Hawkes – mastering *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, ...

– mixing * Graham Archer – engineering, vocal production * Kieran Beardmore – mixing assistance * Charlie Holmes – mixing assistance * Will Reynolds – engineering assistance * Hal Ritson – additional engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* * * {{Ed Sheeran songs 2021 singles 2021 songs British new wave songs British synth-pop songs Ed Sheeran songs Song recordings produced by Ed Sheeran Song recordings produced by Fred Again Songs written by Ed Sheeran Songs written by Fred Again Songs written by Johnny McDaid Asylum Records singles Atlantic Records singles