Jay-Z turned down Ed Sheeran’s request to join on the popular song Shape Of You.
The enormously successful song was published in 2017 and became Ed’s third number one hit in the UK charts, where it lasted for an incredible 14 weeks.
Ed has now gone on to become one of the UK’s greatest artists, consistently selling out venues around the world and creating real earworms that have propelled him to the top of the charts several times.
However, while he was creating Shape Of You, he had intended for a rap verse in the middle, so the song almost sounded totally different.
He’s now disclosed that he wrote to Jay-Z, requesting him to appear on the tune, but was informed flatly that he wasn’t interested – and that Ed’s song didn’t need a rap verse.
In a new Rolling Stone interview, the Lego House singer recalls being in fairly frequent contact with the Numb/Encore star while Ed worked on his new album.
After writing Shape Of You, he believed Jay was the ideal choice for a rap verse on the song and submitted it to him for consideration.
However, after hearing the music, Jay declined the invitation, telling dad-of-two Ed, ‘I don’t believe the song requires a rap verse.’
Ed described the collaboration as a ‘very natural, courteous pass,’ and thinks Jay was ‘probably correct.’
‘He’s got a very, very good ear. He usually gets things right,’ he said.
Shivers’ Ed is gearing up to release his new album, – (Subtract), on May 5, in keeping with his trend of using symbols instead of traditional names.
The singer has also disclosed that he is planning five more albums, each of which would be titled with symbols, with the final one being released after his death.
‘I want to slowly build an album that is quote-unquote “perfect” for the rest of my life, adding songs here and there, and simply have it in my will that it comes out when I die,’ he said in the same Rolling Stone interview.
This comes as Ed revealed a four-part TV series on his life called The Sum Of It All, which will be available to stream on Disney+ beginning May 3.