Ed Sheeran opened up about his longtime friendship with Taylor Swift and explained why their conversations have felt like “therapy” to him.
During a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, Sheeran expressed how he’s been able to connect with Swift because of their similar career paths.
“I have long, long, long conversations with Taylor about stuff just because I feel like she’s one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at,” he said. “She’s a solo artist, she’s at stadiums.”
The “Shivers” singer said he’s able to be “open” with Swift and explained why that’s so helpful.
“I had an hour [and] 20 [minute] conversation with her yesterday and we were just…everything that was on our minds we talked about,” he said. “I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well, because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it.”
He pointed out that he and Swift also have the same concerns about their personal lives.
“That has all the things that you feel and have insecurities about and how other people treat you or how your family treat you, how your friends treat you,” he added. “She’s just basically in the same sphere.”
Sheeran praised Swift for helping him in his career, too. She apparently connected him with her music collaborator Aaron Dessner. However, he said that he had a few reservations about working on his own music with this producer.
“I’m always, not guarded, but I kind of would keep my distance if there would be a collaborator that she’d be working with closely just because that’s her thing,” he said. “And I don’t want to be like, ‘Well going to do that too,’”
But, he added that Swift still pushed for him to work with Dessner and told Sheeran: “I think it’d be really important for you as an artist to do what I did and work with Aaron because this is what it did for me. And I think you and Aaron should work together.”
The “Bad Habits” singer expressed his gratitude for Swift for the push.
“So that sort of opened the door to it,” he added. “And I am incredibly grateful. I’m making some of the most meaningful music to me that I’ve made in a very long time.”
Over the years, the two friends have collaborated on multiple songs together, including “Everything Has Changed” from Red and “End Game” from Reputation.
In honour of Swift’s re-release of Red in November 2021, the pair also released another song on the album: “Run”. At the time, Sheeran shared a post on Instagram to celebrate the tune.
“Run is the first song me and @taylorswift ever wrote together, and Everything Has Changed was the second,” he wrote in the caption. “We re-recorded both of them for Red (Taylor’s Version) which is out today and they are just great. So fun getting to revisit these again.”
In February 2022, they released “The Joker and The Queen”, a track from Sheeran album, =.
“Me and Taylor first met and wrote and recorded our first song together in 2012, 10 years ago now,” he wrote on Instagram when he announced the release of the single.
He added: “I’m so so honoured to have her on this song. Not only is she the best singer/songwriter in the world but she’s also a very close friend, I’m very lucky to have her in my life.”
While they’ve been good friends for years, Sheeran has previously slammed speculation that he was dating Swift. During an interview with The Rolling Stone in 2017, he criticised an article that claimed he dated the singer while on tour together in 2013.
“I found that aspect quite lazy journalism,” he said “There wasn’t any truth to it whatsoever.”
Sheeran also praised the “All Too Well” singer for always having his back, adding: “She would be there if everything ended for me. Taylor is kind of an anomaly in that sense.”
