I almost didn’t want to sing ‘Shape of you —Ed Sheeran

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6 days ago

Ed Sheeran

…Song named no. 1 ‘Most-Streamed Track of the Last Decade’

To celebrate the milestone, Ed Sheeran sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to talk about writing ‘Shape of You’ and the hit song’s lasting impact. ROTIMI IGE brings excerpts.

Ed Sheeran talks with Apple Music about writing Shape of You” and how he almost didn’t sing it himself…

Do you know what, when I wrote it didn’t even cross my… I know this sounds weird, but I’ve written so many songs like that. Obviously, not like that, but 100 of times where you’re in the studio and you’re just like, “Let’s create a vibe and then let’s just get through it, make it move on to the next one. At the end of the day, we’ll survey the five or six songs we’ve done and see if there’s a good one in there.” So, it was the first day I’d worked with Steve Mac, me and Johnny had gone in and we just powered through and we just went song, song, song, song, song. And at the end of the day, we looked back and we were like, “This one’s all right.” And then we were doing drums on a track on ‘Divide’ called “Eraser” that night. So, me and Johnny went to RAK Studios, and then I played it [“Shape of You”] to Ben Cook and Ed Howard who were the head of Asylum Records, who basically, on their label, had me, Charli xcx, Anne-Marie, and Rudimental. And I said to them, I was like, “This could easily be a Rudimental song that you could get Rihanna on.” And they were like, “You’re mental. You should keep this one.” And I was like, “I don’t know.”

I’m just hearing it in drum and bass rhythm now I’m just hearing. “Oh ah, oh ah, oh ah, oh ah”.

Do you know what I mean? It just felt like it might have fit in that. And then my record was perfect. ‘Castle on the Hill’, ‘Happier’. It was very much in one genre. So, it felt like, as you said, like an outlier. But I’m really glad I put it out. It’s only really now looking back, I wish I’d realized how special those moments were, because at the time I was just comparing it to everything else, and Kendrick’s ‘DAMN.’ had come out, and I remember just being like, “That culturally has mattered way more than ‘Shape of You.’” And so, I felt like… I don’t know, I felt weird about it the whole time, but now it’s like eight years on. I still play that song everywhere in the world. I can go anywhere in the world, even if it’s remote jungle in Cambodia, and I know that song. And it’s really like it’s permeated some mad places.

Ed Sheeran talks with Apple Music about how ‘Shape of You’ connects with global audiences…

My point is I’ve never seen ‘Shape of You’ as that song for me, as the song that I will be remembered for. But it’s weird everywhere I go in the world, because we travel everywhere and we play everywhere. And we went to Bhutan recently, and that song kicked off there, and me and Cher have been to remote places in Antarctica or Cambodia or out back in Australia, and that song just finds its way everywhere.

Well, because you’ve got this great hook in there, which I think is it crosses trends, it crosses language barriers.

But the rhythm as well, because the rhythm, originally when I was making it, I was like, “This is a dancehall rhythm.” But then, when I was in India, they were like, “Oh no, this is a Punjabi banger rhythm.” And then I would be somewhere else and they’d be like, “Oh no, this is that.” It’s a rhythm that… I play ‘Shape of You’ with Beoga here, an Irish trad band as well. And it really works with Baron as well. And so, it’s just a rhythm that I feel is a universal rhythm, basically.

Ed Sheeran talks with Apple Music about having a diverse discography…

I think that what I’ve realised about a discography or a set list is that you need all of these songs. If I had two and a half hours of me playing slow ballads, it’s boring. I love where ‘Shape of You’ is in the set. I love where ‘Azizam’ is in the set. I love where ‘Hearts Don’t Break Around’ is in the set or ‘Afterglow’, or ‘Castle’ in it, that it creates a really interesting tapestry of a gig where you can whip out things depending on the mood you’re in.

We just played in Marseille and I could just tell that they were mental. So, you can just throw in more upbeat mental songs and yeah, it is good.

Ed Sheeran tells Apple Music about the lasting impact of ‘Shape of You’…

No one can take away the song. Like ‘Shape of You’ exists and I’ll be able to play it forever. And I will continue to keep writing music and keep releasing it. But I’m just grateful that I have songs like that, that you could be anywhere in the world and someone gives you guitar and you can make someone happy with it.