Hailing all the way from England, Ed Sheeran released his debut album “+” in 2011 featuring singles “The A Team” and “Lego House”. The album, which also contains tracks “Give Me Love” and “Kiss Me”, was certified quintuple platinum in the UK and won him 2 Brit Awards for “Best British Male Solo Artiste” and British Breakthrough Act.
The release of “+” also won Ed the nomination for “Best New Artiste” at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014.
In 2014, he released his second studio album “x” (read as multiply). “x” which contains tracks like “I See Fire”, “Don’t”, and “Thinking Out Loud” topped the UK Album Charts and the Billboard 200 charts the very same year. In 2015, “x” won the Brit Award for “British Album of the Year”, and was nominated for “Album of the Year” at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.
Currently on tour, Ed Sheeran stopped by Malaysia for a show on 16th March (Monday) and we managed to sit down with him for a quick chat at Marini’s on 57.
Here’s what went down:
Hey Ed! How’s it going?
Hey! Good, it’s great to be in Kuala Lumpur. It’s my first time here so I’m pretty excited.
Let’s talk a little bit about your albums. Both “+” and “x” have done really well. Is there a third album in progress and if yes, when can we expect it?
Yes, but not anytime soon. I want to get it right so it’ll take a while, but not too long. I’ll probably release it next year, at some point.
Your past 2 albums have been mostly about relationships, will the forthcoming one be going in the same direction?
Haven’t decided on which direction I’m planning to take with this one just yet. For me, the key to a good album is just good songs so I’ll write a load of good songs and a load of bad ones as well then choose the right ones for the album.
Will your next album feature any collaborations? Any you can tell us about?
I don’t know really, I’m kinda in tour mode at the moment, not really in creative mode so I haven’t been thinking about it.
And what can you tell us about what’s currently in the pipeline for you this 2015?
I’m just touring. I’m literally just touring, I have nothing else planned aside from touring. It’s exciting though!
Sure does sound exciting! Which is more important to you, winning awards or selling records worldwide?
Selling records worldwide. I know a lot of people with awards, I don’t know a lot of people who sell millions of records worldwide. It’s probably more common to win an award than it is to have a really successful album. I prefer touring and selling tickets as well as albums and having people like my music. The people that decide that you win awards is a very small community, whereas the people that decide whether you’re good or not is a very, very big community so yeah, I prefer selling albums. I honestly don’t care about awards – I want to sell albums, I want to sell tickets. I want to make a living doing what I love and if awards happen, it happens. If it doesn’t, it’s not something I’d cry about.
Given that you’re currently on tour, I must ask, do you prefer touring or writing music?
I don’t know because the buzz you get from a live show is consistent and the buzz from writing a good song is better than anything in the world. But, the buzz you get from writing a bad song is absolute sh*t, so for consistency, I’d prefer touring but then again, writing a good song is a whole new high.
Let’s talk a little about your tattoos, you’ve got almost 2 full sleeves now and I know John Mayer drew a tattoo design for you. Are you planning to get any new ones?
Yeah, he did (points to tattoo that says “Kool Guy”). I really want to get a lot more but I’m in places for so little time nowadays that for me to spend an afternoon getting a tattoo doesn’t make much sense because I can spend an afternoon going out to see a place. I think I’ll probably next get a tattoo when I’m I have some time off. Probably when I have say like 4 weeks in the same place (laughs).
Last one, what’s the one song that you love performing the most?
Bloodstream. That’s my favourite.
And we’re done! Thanks so much for taking the time out to talk with us Ed!
It was my pleasure, thank you too!
Talking to Ed Sheeran was an absolute pleasure, so thank you PR Worldwide and Warner Music Malaysia for hooking us up. Stay tuned for our review on his concert! 😉
For now, we’ll leave you with “Thinking Out Loud”:
For more Ed Sheeran goodness, hit up his website or his Facebook page.
