Do you remember our post in April where we reported that Tom will be in Ed Sheeran’s new music video? (click here)
The video is out now.
“Are You Entertained” is a project by Russ & Ed Sheeran in memory of Jamal Edwards (He passed away in February after a heart attack aged just 31.)
Russ on Instagram:
I’m so grateful for this moment. I walked up to Ed at a restaurant (Carbone) and assumed he didn’t know who I was. Just wanted to introduce myself and say what’s up. Next thing I know I’m eating pasta and drinking wine at his table talkin bout everything. Fast forward and we had this song and we wanted to shoot a video to it so he introduced me to Jamal Edwards, a brilliant visionary and special soul who wrote the treatment for the video. We went back and forth on ideas and we were all super excited. The day before we were supposed to fly out to London we got the tragic news that Jamal had passed away. I had never met Jamal other than those emails but I can tell he was a special person. The way Ed, Jamal’s mother Brenda, his sister Tanisha, the director Jake Nava, the producer Ali and everyone else who worked on this rallied together and still wanted to make Jamal’s vision come to life, showed the impact he had. All I wanted to do was make sure I did my part in facilitating making his exact treatment come to life. I’m just beyond grateful that all of y’all let me be apart of something so special. Special thank you to everyone who made this happen and thank you to Brenda Edwards for being such a warrior of love and light. RIP Jamal Edwards
Ed Sheeran on Instagram:
I was having dinner in New York in December when @russ came up to my table, I was a fan so we just sat and ate pasta and drink wine together. A few days later I sent him the rough idea for this song, the same day he emailed me back with it finished, which I loved. He said we should do a video, so I hit up @jamaledwards, knowing that he would create something incredible for us. Jamal then planned it out for the next couple of months, sending me locations, ideas, cameos, trying to make it the best video any of us could make. We were meant to shoot in February, but the day before Russ flew out, Jamal tragically died. Our whole world was upside down, and I had to cancel and just tell Russ it wasn’t happening, but he was so so understanding, to a level il never forget. Jamals mum @brendaedwardsglobal and sister @Tanisha.arts_ , a few weeks later said we should still try and make Jamals vision come to life, so with the help of his amazing production team at @radicalmedia_london and @jakenava directing, we shot it. I felt so sad on the day, but very proud. I wish Jam was here to see it, I wish we’d done it together, but he would be buzzing how all his people came together and brought his vision to life. Russ, thanks for being such an amazing human, and thank you to everyone who made this video happen. Jamal lives on forever. Are you entertained out now x
Russ also posted these pics with Tom over the past few days:
