Ed Sheeran became the first artist to reach 100 million Spotify followers last summer, and there are several stacks of evidence that Sheeran is one of the world’s biggest pop stars. However, Sheeran gave that title to Harry Styles during a recent visit with the Spout Podcast in the aftermath of his — (Subtract) album release.
“I’ve known Harry since I was 19 and he was 16, and there’s something about going through your formative years — it’s quite weird,” Sheeran said. “He’s obviously on top of the world right now and has gone from being in the biggest boy band in the world to then being the biggest solo artist in the world. It’s an amazing journey to see, and I’m really super, super proud of him.”
Sheeran also compared his long-standing friendship with Styles to his long-standing friendship with Taylor Swift.
“It’s the same thing as Taylor. There’s rarely people that totally understand you, and I think both of them — because they are solo artists and are at this level, you kind of talk and there’s an understanding there that you don’t necessarily get from everyone,” he explained.
During an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe shared around the — (Subtract) release, Sheeran expounded on his friendship with Swift.
“I have 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 told Lowe.
Back on Spout, Sheeran also touched on Swift: “I think because we don’t do a hell of a lot of business together, like, we’re very much — every now and then, we’ll come together and do something, but I’ve hung out with her more times than I can count and I can count on one hand how many songs we’ve released together. It is a friendship friendship, and we just happen to be in the same business.”
Watch Sheeran’s Spout Podcast interview above.
Ed Sheeran is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.