Watch Ed Sheeran perform ‘Shivers’ and ‘Bad Habits’ from the 2021 MTV VMAs

Ed Sheeran has taken to the stage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York to perform recent singles ‘Shivers’ and ‘Bad Habits’ at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards.

Both tracks were performed alongside a seven-piece backing band, with Sheeran playing acoustic guitar. The additional instrumentation added a wealth of depth and dynamism to the performance, perfectly replicating the buzzy electropop flavour of both tracks’ studio counterparts.

Watch Ed Sheeran and co. performing ‘Shivers’ and ‘Bad Habits’ below:

Sheeran scored four nominations at this year’s VMAs, earning nods for Video of the Year, Best Art Direction, Best Choreography and Song of the Summer, all of which were for ‘Bad Habits’. The single itself was released back in June, marking Sheeran’s first solo release in four years.

‘Bad Habits’ went on to become Sheeran’s tenth Number One single in the UK. He followed the track’s release by performaning it on The Late Late Show With James Corden (during his week-long residency on the show) and a making-of video for its film clip.

‘Shivers’ dropped last Friday (September 13) alongside a film clip where Sheeran cosplays as Elton John. Both tracks – as well as the single ‘Visiting Hours’, and two songs he debuted live in August – will appear on Sheeran’s forthcoming fifth album ‘=’, set for release on October 29 via Asylum/Atlantic.

Sheeran – who recently revealed he was told to forget being a musician and “get a real job”, and had to be talked out of moving to a private island in Ghana – appeared at the VMAs alongside a suite of other performers, including Machine Gun Kelly, Kacey Musgraves, the Foo Fighters, Lil Nas X, Twenty One Pilots, Olivia Rodrigo and Justin Bieber.