Ed Sheeran has collaborated with countless big names over the years – Beyoncé, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, the list goes on. But it turns out the 32-year-old singer also had a huge celebrity feature on his best-selling song "Shape Of You." In a recent cover interview with Rolling Stone , Sheeran revealed that he approached Jay-Z about adding a rap feature to the song. "We connected. I sent him the song and he said, 'I don't think this song needs a rap verse.' "He's probably right. He's got a really, really good ear. He usually gets things right. It was a very natural, respectful pass," Sheeran said of the exchange.
"Shape of You" was released alongside "Castle On The Hill" as part of his 2017 album Divide and spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard 100 chart. That's not all, the song also earned Sheeran a Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance. Back in July 2022, Jay-Z also talked about how he chooses guest features while speaking with Kevin Hart on his show Hart To Heart . The 53-year-old rapper shared: "Almost every song I sing, I'm asked to be on. I don't ask people to be on their songs." He also added: "Sometimes it falls through the cracks. Slip away. Sometimes I want to, but I'm somewhere in my life and I can't, but I usually try to be honest with people."
Sheeran also opened the Rolling Stone interview by discussing an animated musical he's working on with Disney, for which he's written several songs over the past two years. "I got a lot of support from it and was really excited about it. And then wrote a lot of songs," he said. All this, plus Sheeran's upcoming album - (pronounced Subtract ), which will be released on May 5, and the Disney+ documentary series The Sum Of It All, which will be released on May 3. The singer will also be launching throughout March and April. The outlook for Britain and Europe is so clear that he's going to have a great year.
