Ed Sheeran has shared the story behind his connection with Aaron Dessner.
In a Thursday Instagram post, the Shape of You singer credited Taylor Swift with connecting him to the musician and record producer.
“In 2021, I got a message from @taylorswift to link me up with @aarondessner. She thought he and I would make something great together,” Ed recalled, captioning a photo of himself and Aaron together.
“I have to be honest I was a bit reticent to work with him that soon after Folklore and Evermore because I felt that was Taylor’s thing and they had both been done so perfectly. But we met for dinner, chatted about life and music, and he promised to send me some instrumentals for me to write over whenever inspiration hit,” he added.
Aaron had previously been credited as a collaborator on Taylor’s albums Folklore and Evermore. He is a composer and guitarist.
“As soon as I got (the instrumentals), I loved the whole overall vibe of it and knew that one day I would write to them, but at the time I was finishing up what I thought was Subtract, so would put them on the back burner for a bit. Then, as I said in my announcement post, a lot of things started happening in my personal life that I just felt the need to vent about on song and write diaristically about them,” Ed continued in his post.
“I had Aaron’s instrumentals, so just started writing, and writing, and writing. He flew over to the UK and we recorded it in a week by the seaside, and it’s just been the most incredible process, and an album I’m so bloody proud of.”
