10 September 2025
Newsdesk
GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran welcomes Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to his home for a special interview celebrating the release of his eighth studio album, ‘Play'. In the conversation, Ed talks about the inspirations and the global sounds and collaborators on the record - the first of his new five album series. He also talks about his “heavy year”, his support for younger artists coming through instead of rivalries, award snubs, reuniting his high school band, his love of artists like Westlife and James Blunt, and how he’s put it in his will to release a posthumous album.
Ed Sheeran reflects on his "heavy year" with Apple Music
Zane Lowe: You're happy, man. When I spoke to you in New York, you were searching for it, but you were in it and you were honest and it was a great conversation. I really enjoyed that day with you, but I could tell that you were still figuring out how to come through the other side to a place where the day was wild and open.
Ed Sheeran: I mean it was a heavy year. It was a heavy year, but I think that I'm sort of reflecting on all of it now because I'm having friends that are having their heavy years now, and I think that it just happens to all of us and it all creeps up and most of it starts happening at once. All these big life events start happening clumped in together. I think I've been very reflective over that period of time and I'm super happy where I'm really, really settled and really happy now and I'm in a good rhythm with gigs. I'm at home Monday to Friday, playing Saturday, Sunday, home Monday to Friday and I'm able to be creative but also be at home and it's good.
Zane Lowe: When did you start to come through the other side of it?
Ed Sheeran: It definitely was all of '23. I guess probably summer '24. Last year. I think I got into rhythm of tour that allowed space between. I was only playing one show a week because 2024 was a year of playing places that we'd never played. Like going to play Croatia or Serbia or Cyprus. It wasn't the best financial decision, but it was me basically saying, "Let's just play places I haven't played." And I think because it was only one show a week, it allowed me six days at home in between.
Ed Sheeran on working with younger artists and how it has shaped his views on his early career
Zane Lowe: As someone who's been on top for so long, at some point, and you even reference it in the opening song, in ‘Opening' where you talk about, "I see replacements below me and there's a sense of like, okay, I've achieved everything I want to achieve, but there's a fire in me, but there's someone coming and they've got a bucket of f***ing water, man, and they're going to start their own fire." How do you relate to that? If Benny's coming out the other side and maturing in a way that's great, he'll come back to music in his own way. Are you there?
Ed Sheeran: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I just take them on tour. Any artist that's coming through that's ... And there's been a new singer-songwriter every single year since I started, and it's always like ... I've even had conversations with them. Some who aren't even stylistically like me that are called the next Ed Sheeran, that it's obviously frustrating for an artist coming through who's completely different.
Zane Lowe: That's what people miss by the way. They think it offends you. It's really offensive to the new artist coming through.
Ed Sheeran: Oh, it definitely doesn't offend me. I guess when artists get offended by it, maybe that offends me a little bit.
Zane Lowe: It's almost like f*** that. You're like, "Wait. F*** you."
Ed Sheeran: But I found every year there's an artist to come through and I think that early, early on, the first one was Shawn Mendes and he was 15 and he had teenage fan-base on lock and I think I was like I can either be weird about this or we can become really good friends and we can be sounding boards for each other, which we have been for the last ... I think I met him 2013.
Zane Lowe: 10 years ago.
Ed Sheeran: Yeah, 12. I want to root for all my contemporaries and it's really easy to root for your contemporaries if you're mates with them. [Lewis] Capaldi is another one. He's a really close friend of mine.
Zane Lowe: That was beautiful, man, what happened at Glastonbury. The new songs are so big, and I mean just-
Ed Sheeran: We had a night, actually two weeks before that. He came to the final Premier League game of Ipswich and we had two or three days together uninterrupted where he played all ... The music that's coming is phenomenal. But I really like him. I really like him. I had this realisation the other day though, that in a year's time or a year and a half's time, it would've been the exact amount of time in it than out it. And yeah, I think it really affected me. I had people that I loved and trusted and were in my life for 20 years of my life that suddenly turned weird. And it's only now reflecting back on it being in my 30s with kids, people in their 40s were leaning on me as a teenager, asking for money and favours and blah, blah, blah whilst I'm trying to navigate that. And at the time you kind of see yourself as equal, but now I'm looking back at it, I hang out with teenage artists who were coming through, and it's young. It's really young.
Zane Lowe: Chance the Rapper said to me other day, he said, "Man, I was damn near a child star when I started and I'd never put it through the lens of being as a late teenager." Yeah.
Ed Sheeran: And it's weird in hindsight, looking back at the way that people who are older than me now treated me. And I think at the time it was just navigating fame and navigating people turning weird towards me and wanting this and wanting this and selling stories or trying to extort me or all this sort of different things or even lawsuits coming through. And yeah, it's only now reflecting back. I'd never f***ing do that. Even if I hadn't had success, I would never ever do that to a teenager.
Ed Sheeran on ‘Opening’, the first track off of his new album 'Play'
That song didn't exist when the album was finished. I think I listened to the album and I was like, it's actually quite jarring going from 'Subtract' straight into ‘Sapphire' which is how it went. And when we were listening back to the record, I was like, "I think it needs ..." The way that I described it was like an acoustic "Sicko Mode" where there's a beat switch halfway through and it very much was that. I was like, start acoustically as if it's 'Subtract' and then flip into 'Play.'
Ed Sheeran on the global influences on 'Play'
Zane Lowe: I love the way the album starts. I mean it's definitely for me, it lays out the ground and then from there we're all over the world. I mean, it literally feels like you've been out there not only playing stadiums and going to places, but the idea of you just picking a spot and saying, "You know what, if I'm going to be here three days, let me go and meet some people."
Ed Sheeran: Yeah. Well, and also what was fun about that India tour is the only reason we did that tour was to shoot the video. I was like, we need to go all over India. We're going to shoot a little bit in everything, so it was kind of-
Zane Lowe: What were your impressions? What did you love about it?
Ed Sheeran: I loved that every hundred miles, the culture changed, the language changed, the food changed, the fashion changed, the rhythms changed. It just was like everywhere we went, something else was more interesting. There's also, as you know, talents there that have existed for decades that you would not know about. And I think it's just a wealth of discovery and movies and having someone being like, "Oh, check out this movie." And you watch ...
Ed Sheeran on Grammy snubs and the industry validation that he values
Zane Lowe: You know what's also really interesting to me, and I think it's worth bringing up, not that we put too much emphasis on this stuff because prize givings are what they are, but it blows my mind that you haven't had that honour of the Grammys yet to the degree that I would've thought you would've.
Ed Sheeran: It would've been 'Divide' and 'Shape of You' and it just wasn't. It was the same thing that happened to Abel [The Weeknd] with 'Blinding Lights’ and then 'After Hours' and they just cut them out the main categories. And I feel like same for ‘Perfect’. Just cut ‘Perfect' out the main categories. And I think if it was going to be, it would've been then and because it wasn't, then I've sort of made my peace with it.
Zane Lowe: What can you take away from this? Because you're right, you can't focus on it.
Ed Sheeran: By the way, this is such a pop star thing, talking awards like-
Zane Lowe: But it's not though because people watch award ceremonies and your fans want you to win. And people like me who've watched you have enormous success don't understand why that isn't honoured to some degree because the people have spoken.
Ed Sheeran: Because the music industry is a massive school playground, and there are the cool kids and the uncool kids and I've always been on the other side. I've always been on the uncool side, and for the last 10 years of my career, I've won awards, but they've been made up on the night basically because I haven't won anything and they're like, "Well, we have to give him something, so we'll just give him this." Honestly, honestly.
Zane Lowe: But the artists don't listen to that. Look who you work with. Look at the kind of people that show up. Eminem does not show up. He does not need to. But he showed up for you and he continues to show up for you. He showed up at your show. That's one of the things I think that when all is said and done, in the rare times that this may cross your mind, what do you take away from it? What can you learn from this? How does it strengthen your resolve?
Ed Sheeran: Because every artist that I admire likes me and we get on. Not just as artists, but as friends. I get to sit in a studio with Dave and rap back to back with him. I get to sit in a studio with Eminem. I get to sit in a studio with Giggs. Any artist that I love, we meet on friendship level and artist level, and I don't think anyone takes into account statues and stats and blah, blah, blah. It's like human interaction and talent meeting talent, I think. There's a lot of solace to be found in just the people that I f**k with f**k with me. And I think that that's kind of all you really want as an artist and the rest of it is noise. It's obviously really lovely to have stuff, but I think the experiences in my life like being on stage with Eminem means more than most of the things that I've won in my career.
Ed Sheeran on the songs on 'Play' that he thinks will have lasting impact
Zane Lowe: We've talked a little bit about songs like ‘Perfect' and 'Thinking Out Loud' and these big copyrights that I think when all is said and done, when you're 99 and you shift off this mortal coil and transition into the next phase of life, what will be the song they put up that they play on the news, and you've talked about, "Well, it'll be that one or that one." What song, if any, on this album, and I'm sure there is, do you feel like is matching up to that level of writing for you on this new album? Is it ‘Slowly'? Is it 'The Vow'? Is there a song where you're like-
Ed Sheeran: It's weird. Because I would say in that conversation, it might be a song like 'The Vow', but I think in the conversation of what gets played on the news when I die, I think it's ‘Sapphire' or I think it's something like ‘Azizam'. I think more ‘Sapphire' and I think because of the feeling that I get when I meet people from the Indian diaspora in the UK or in America or in Canada, or even when I'm in India shooting that video and people are kind of like, "Do you know what this is and what this means?" And I think that the fusion of the two, I didn't really realise it whilst I was making it at the time, but it feels super-important and I love how it's been taken. And when I was in India, they're very much like Arijit [Singh] is their version of me for the UK in terms of love songs, singer-songwriter, vocal, blah, blah, blah. So I think the meeting of the worlds was ... It was almost inevitable, but I think that it made the song what it is. So I think for me, it's definitely the most important song on the record and I do think that it will stand the test of time in terms of fusing Western pop culture with Indian in a respectful way, I think.
Ed Sheeran on performing with this high school band again
Ed Sheeran: So I started up my high school band again. I was in a band when I was-
Zane Lowe: Didn't you bring them out on stage?
Ed Sheeran: Yeah, but it all happened ... We were in a band when I was 12.
Zane Lowe: What were you called?
Ed Sheeran: Rusty. It was me and my mate Fred who were in year eight. We were 12. And then Rowley, his younger brother, who was in year seven. And in my mind we were together for 40 years and we did all these shows. We probably did like five shows. And we split up because they joined another band and I wanted to do the Damien Rice singer-songwriter thing. But Fred and Rowley have always remained my best friends. Fred came on tour with me for years and stuff like that. And then for my mate Doug's wedding, Doug said, "Get the band back together. 20 year anniversary."
Zane Lowe: I want Rusty.
Ed Sheeran: So we got back together. We played this killer set for an hour and a half.
Zane Lowe: Originals?
Ed Sheeran: No, no, no. 'I Want It That Way', 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love', 'Mr. Brightside', Bewitched's 'C'est la vie'. I mean, we f**king crushed. We also did 'Teenage Dirtbag' and I was like, "I kind of know Brendan. I could probably ask him if we could play this at the shows." Now we're older, we get to actually live out our teenage dreams.
Zane Lowe: You're in a f***ing playground right now, mate, doing whatever you want. You're like the Willy Wonka of f***ing pop music. This is amazing.
Ed Sheeran: But this is why I'm loving touring so much is we can do sh*t like this. And they're very competent musicians, Fred and Rowley, but they both work totally different jobs. They're not in music. So now seeing them get back into this creative space and Rowley's now playing drums every single day, and Fred ... It's a really cool thing to get to do with your mates and share with your mates. And I think Brendan really loved the feeling of it as well. We did a gig Saturday in Amsterdam for another mate's wedding and it was great again.
Ed Sheeran on his relationship with his musical influences
Ed Sheeran: Life is too short not to tell James Blunt what he means to me. I've had a good relationship with James for maybe like 12, 13 years, but I've never really sat and said, "This is how important you were to me." And same with Westlife. I mean Westlife knew that I was fans of them, but I think there's a generation of artists coming through now that are ... Lewis I guess was in the middle. Lewis has said he's got YouTube videos of him singing the 'A-Team' and 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' and stuff like that. But there's this generation just below him, which are like Myles Smith who was nine or 10 when 'The A-Team' came out and had a loop pedal for his birthday as well and got an acoustic guitar. And he's on tour with me now and he for whatever reason makes a point of whenever he feels something he tells me, and it's really made me want to do the same thing. So I brought him up on stage and we sung 'Kiss Me' together, and he told me this whole story about getting the loop pedal for his birthday and learning these songs and 'Plus' being so important to him and how these moments are so special to him.
Zane Lowe: What an emotionally intelligent young man.
Ed Sheeran: Well, and also very, very confident within himself. He's the cool factor be damned there as well.
Zane Lowe: But to share that, to want to share the moment with somebody and not just wait for the right time, but be like, no, there's no right time.
Ed Sheeran: Or even just kind of push it down. And I think it's making me more and more want to do it for ... I mean, anytime I love a new artist's song, I'll DM them on ... Like I heard that Skye Newman 'Family Matters' and was just like, "F*** me." Messaged her, got to know her, got to know her, got to share a stage with her, and then you suddenly have a connection. This is what I was saying about rooting for the new generation coming through, but I'm finding with the older generation, I feel like people like Westlife and Steve Mack who wrote the Westlife songs, deserve their flowers now. Don't tell them when they're gone. Tell them now. These songs are f**king awesome and they mean a lot to people.
Ed Sheeran on having to turn down plans with The Rolling Stones
I was grey. I used to smoke then as well. And I look at it now, I really take care of my voice now. And back then I would smoke, drink, stay up all night, be in the studio for 12 hours a day, then do a three-hour show and then go and do it again. I remember what was funny about that run of shows. We had those three Hollywood Bowl shows that I just went out, out, out, out, out. And then I opened up for The Stones and I remember Keith Richards being like, "Hey man, we're going for a drink afterwards." And me just being like ... I was like, "I physically f**king can't, man. I got to go to bed." And I look back at that and I'm like, he just thinks I can't hang and I could have hung.
Ed Sheeran on his plans for a posthumous album, 'Eject'
Zane Lowe: You know the last of the five is 'Stop'?
Ed Sheeran: Well no, it's actually it would be ‘Stop’ and then ‘Eject.’ ‘Eject’ is the album in the will.
Zane Lowe: It's so funny, the image of me to me, but-
Ed Sheeran: It's actually in my will. It's actually in my will and Cherry gets to pick the tracks for it. It fully like it's in there if I were to go tomorrow-
Zane Lowe: What is? I don't understand. What do you mean it's in your will?
Ed Sheeran: My will of wishes is to make a record out of all the songs from the age of 18, so when I pass away-
Zane Lowe: Called 'Eject'.
Ed Sheeran: Choose the 10 best. And it's like imagine if Paul McCartney dies and there's early 16-year-old Beatles recordings and then right up to it, the 10 best of his entire career. Lots of people won't like that of me, but there'll be lots of my fans that would find that super-interesting.
Zane Lowe: And it only comes out-
Ed Sheeran: After I'm dead. You know how posthumous albums come out, but they're sort of unplanned. I want to sort of make a plan-
Zane Lowe: You want the estate to take care of and do it properly?
Ed Sheeran: Yeah.
Zane Lowe: And it's called 'Eject'?
Ed Sheeran: And I'll talk to Cherry throughout my life of, "I really like this one. I really like one. I really like this one."
Zane Lowe: Actually, that's really cool, man. But as far as you living on this earth for a long time to come-
Ed Sheeran: Yeah, but you never know. You never know.
Zane Lowe: You never know.
Ed Sheeran: And I don't want to go and someone just to jumble up stuff and put it out. I want it to be planned.
Ed Sheeran on his plans for ‘Stop’, the last of his new 5 album series
Zane Lowe: Until that moment, 'Stop' is a pretty finite sounding album on paper. What is 'Stop' to you? As someone who plans, and I know Ed today, 34-year-old Ed, is living in the moment and appreciating life and giving gratitude as in where it is required and desired. But I know you think. You make albums in chapters and in groups. So what is 'Stop'?
Ed Sheeran: I think I'll take a long time to make it. I think that 'Rewind' is sort of self-explanatory. 'Pause', don't know, but if I take a break, maybe that will be a nice one to put out. 'Fast Forward' can be anything f**king kooky and futuristic. Stop I feel like has to be kind of the way that Jay-Z did 'The Black Album' as if it's your ... I'm not saying that will be my final album. I think I'll probably still make music from there, but I think it has to be made with the same level of care and attention. I love 'The Black Album' and it's because he's like, "This is my last thing I'm giving to the world."
Zane Lowe: What is it about mortality and the arts? I've spoken to a few people about this and I don't mean life or death, I mean the idea of stop. And yeah, it doesn't have to be the end of your creativity, but like Childish Gambino just did. He just retired Childish Gambino and he'll keep making music. What is the-
Ed Sheeran: And Abel's retired The Weeknd.
Zane Lowe: That's right. And so what is it about the idea of being able to cap something that is attractive to creative people?
Ed Sheeran: I think it's the fantasy of going back to normal life. But the thing is, as creatives, our life was always creative. Donald Glover was always creative. Abel was always creative. Jay-Z was always creative. So when you stop and you retreat and you go, "Right. I'm just going to live a normal life,” you inevitably get drawn back to creativity because that's the only thing that you know how to do. But I fantasise all the time about disappearing and moving to ... Like Damien Rice lives in the sort of middle of nowhere where people wouldn't like and I went to hang out with him there and when I'm there I'm like-
Zane Lowe: Good life?
Ed Sheeran: Yeah. And when I'm there I'm like, "I could do this. I could do this." But then there's so many other factors of the kids' grandparents live here. I say it's a fantasy. It's like every now and then if I'm knackered, I'm like, you want to pack it all in and go. But I love the way that Springsteen did it actually. Springsteen sort of took a step back while his kids were at high school, university, I guess, and now he's back on the horse in terms of touring. I guess he did certain shows. But I think if I was going to do ‘Pause’ or ‘Stop,’ it would be for a reason.
