The last time I covered Ed Sheeran, I discussed his annoying British GQ cover interview where he came across as sort of privileged and douchey. I sort of forgot that he’s only 26 years old and he’s been very famous since he was about 20, and I also sort of forgot that he thinks he’s God’s gift. To hear Ed Sheeran tell it, he’s the biggest thing in music. While I know he has devoted fans and he’s pretty famous, I still rolled my eyes at his woe-is-me-my-fame-is-a-burden attitude in his new Rolling Stone cover interview. In between consuming a sh-tload of alcohol throughout the multi-day interview process, Ed also comes across as thin-skinned, a vulgar alcoholic, and a ride-or-die Swift-loonie. Just my opinion. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
A Twitter comment used to ruin his day back in 2013-15: “Everyone online was saying, ‘Ed’s going bald.’ And I’m not. But I convinced myself that I was. Ginger hair is just very fair – my hair is completely fine. I was also quite big at the time, so I kind of got a complex about two things I would have never given a f–k about.”
He lost some friends in that time period too: “The Forbes list actually f–ked it up… I was getting texts from people with pictures of cars going, ‘I’d like this for my birthday, please. This one’s only .06 percent of your annual income.'”
He isn’t a critical darling: “I could give a f–k about what people think. Anytime anyone has a problem with me, I’m just like, ‘My heroes like me. The people I started music for are fans of my music. So why the f–k would I care about what anyone else thinks?’ ”
Ginger stereotypes: “Most ginger-haired people I know are very outgoing and comedic. They basically say the joke before you can. Like, my first album is orange. There’s a reason it’s orange – I’m getting there before you can…. The whole musician thing kind of comes from wanting to be loved and wanting to be liked.”
He used to hook up with Taylor Swift’s friends: “Taylor’s world is celebrity. I was this 22-year-old awkward British kid going on tour with the biggest artist in America, who has all these famous mates. It was very easy. … I would often find myself in situations just kind of waking up and looking over and being like, ‘How the f–k did that happen?’ ”
But he never hooked up with Swift: “I found that aspect quite lazy journalism,. There wasn’t any truth to it whatsoever.”Taylor on Sheeran: “We’ve gotten matching Scottish folds, made each other arts and crafts Christmas presents, vacationed with our families, and had each other’s backs. He is the James Taylor to my Carole King and I can’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be.”
He thinks Taylor is his true friend: “She would be there if everything ended for me. Taylor is kind of an anomaly in that sense.” He’s been annoyed at the backlash against her lately: “She’s omnipresent because she’s the most famous woman in the world, so she can’t make the decision to not be in the press. I always stick up for Taylor.”
He tested his current girlfriend, Cherry, by leaving her alone with his associates: “One of the main points of being in a relationship with me, you have to be really f–king sociable and good at talking to people, because I will be dragged away loads at parties and events. And Cherry’s perfect at it. She makes friends with everyone.”
Whether he drinks too much: “Often, I’m like, ‘Is it bad that I drink almost every single day?’ And then I look at my friends and most of them do the same. And they’re actually worse than me. The first thing Americans say is, ‘There’s a problem, and you need to go to rehab.’ But I don’t wake up and drink. I don’t depend on drink. I can go without it completely. I just enjoy going out and having fun, being 25. And I think that’s a normal thing.”
At SNL, Sheeran admired Alec Baldwin’s two babies. “Whenever anyone brings babies around, I’m like, ‘We gotta get on that.’”
One, I’d love a list of the Taylor Swift-friends he’s hooked up with. Two, Taylor’s quote actually made me guffaw. “He is the James Taylor to my Carole King and I can’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be.” OMFG. Take Carole King’s name out of your mouth, Taylor!!!! And don’t compare Ed Sheeran – ED BLOODY SHEERAN! – to James Taylor. As for Ed Sheeran’s alcohol consumption and his rationale that he’s just doing what his friends are doing… that’s usually what alcoholics say a few months before they go into rehab.
Cover courtesy of Rolling Stone, additional photo courtesy of WENN.
He and Taylor need to just hook up and spare the rest of us this painful ‘she’s great’, ‘no he’s great’ drooling. He’s clearly into her.
No way that will happen. Taylor only does good looking dudes. The lowest Taylor goes is TV Handsome.
I don’t think he’s into her. They’re like annoying speacial snowflake siblings.
i actually thinks he’s in love with her, but she isn’t.
@Daisy: I laughed out loud at that – so true!!
I disagree. She’s in love with her, too.
@graymatters hahahah BOOM, yes she’s most definitely in love with her, too. just not with ed.
Nice use of bloody there, Kaiser. We’ll make a Britisher of you yet!
Never a particular fan of the music, but I quite liked Ed when he first got known cos he could actually play live and wasn’t entirely manufactured. But he’s turned out to be such a self-absorbed, whiny drag. I cringe when he crosses my path these days. Shame.
JAMES BLOODY TAYLOR!!! I do not think so, Swifty.
LOL!
Well done!
Lol. I didn’t realize what a tool he was. He is fixated on his red locks and our sweet Taylor. Carole King and James Taylor are simultaneously hanging their heads over the bowl. How dare she even….exhausting, first she thought she was the modern day Joni Mitchell. This chick is delusional. But Eddie boy thinks she the most famous women in the world so that’s all that counts. Courtney Cox is in the corner yelling bravo since she is a Ed stan…go figure.
It is such a horrid comment from Swifty! Especially when James Taylor was so painfully shy and humble he used to lock himself in the bathroom to write songs to girls he never dared to talk to and stare at his shoes, and Carol King wrote songs for other people and took forever to release her own album because she didn’t think she was good enough. These two muppets have egos the size of mountains and nowhere near the talent. He’s arrogant and she’s faux humble
I can’t LOL enough at Taylor calling herself Carole King.
Seriously, these two really need to get over themselves.
Yeah, as individuals and as some kind of epic duo – in their own minds.
My eyes rolled so hard I needed to put on my gel mask.
My eye now looks like ed sheerans wanderer after the eye roll I did at that Carole king comment. GET A GRIP TAYLOR SWIFT!
Exactly my first reaction was Bwahhhaaaahhhaaaahhhaaaa! ROFL – self aggrandizing much? Although they are hyping each other to kingdom come (well they have to, nobody else will), he’s already called her ‘The most famous woman in the world’ Nah Ed, I think not mate…
The very definition of great singer/songwriter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDm1xD_Kwyc
or this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkqEFVNNz3I
Thanks!! I listened to that all the way through. The definition of a great songwriter is that you can stand on you own and you’re not “like” anyone. Taylor is no Carole King…and I’m not even going to get started on the James Taylor thing it’s just too damn early in the morning.
+1000. Yes for eternity.
THIS all day long!
IKR? Girl, no. A thousand times no.
And Ed is utterly full of sh!t, like most of these young music stars these days. I swear everything about their public personas is a lie, especially Taylor. I doubt Ed casually banged one of Taylor’s squad. Honestly, would you? Stop trying to make Howdy Doody sexy. It ain’t happening. But saying he did will get that entire group attention and publicity. It’s tasteless transparent fame whoring. And it’s always the same bunch of chuckleheads, Taylor and her squad, the One Direction kids, the two Jonas brothers that still sing, Bieber and a litany of wannabes like that girl who quit Fifth Harmony. It’s annoying.
Yeah, come back to me when Taylor’s had an album with the lasting power of “Tapestry” 🙄🤣😖
She made him famous in the US, of course he is going to be loyal to her and keep her side.
The douche is strong with this one.
When he came on the scene he was such a humble guy. Now he thinks he needs to test if his girlfriend is good enough in social situations to be worthy of a relationship with him. Because he’s so popular that everyone wants his time and she will have to be able to share. I mean come on!
Also his songwriting has gotten lazy and his new album is by far his worst.
Yeah I’ve had guys do that to me — they invite me to a family function or something and then disappear. I make it a point to make friends with everyone, be super sweet, and then I drop the guy like a hot potato. That way they ask him about me and when they get to see me again, and he looks like a nincompoop.
Typical nerd/weirdo who always dreamed bout being the popular jock, no wonder he gets along with his female version.
HIS TATTOOS ARE SO BLOODY BAD. I will say it forever. Every time we are exposed to the insults to any decent tattoo artist that are his sleeves, I will scream it. They are awful. They add to his overall “annoying as f*ck” aesthetic.
His new single is about being in love with someone’s body, and then I look at him and I honestly cringe. There is negative 50 sex appeal with this one.
A hobbit has more sex appeal, at least they’re cute – Elijah Wood was downright beautiful as Bilbo Baggins…Ed actually manages to be an ugly hobbit – an achievement in itself…
Come on now, let’s not criticize his physique especially when there’s so much more to fall on like him testing his girlfriend, to see if she can “speak” and be by herself. You know, like a child.
normally I wouldn’t but let’s face it at some point the guy has started seriously fancying himself – hence the testing of the girlfriend syndrome – so I’m just throwing a reality check out there for him….you know, being all charitable like….
Frodo. This is a crucial correction because Frodo is a million times more bangle than uncle Bilbo. Also, Sheeran’s claims belong on the same library shelf as Tolkien: Fantasy.
punkprincessphd – ARGHHHH Frodo, I was in a rush and COMPLETELY distracted/disturbed by Taylor Swift actually believing she is the modern day Carol King it obviously sent me into a brain fart.
Yep they look like a bored child has used their coloured Sharpies to doodle on his arms when he was asleep.
His obnoxiousness/annoying AF attitude is the reason he gets stick from the media and comedians. He knows he’s annoying AF but doesn’t care cause he’s famous and wealthy.
These are some of my problems with him too!
The tats make me weep. He has money, he can afford excellent work, he just has no taste.
The body thing is so hypocritical and I see it in guys all the time. maybe I’m just lucky in my female friends but they don’t see to go down this route often. I have a friend who was single for five years because while he is quite overweight, balding and any girl even close to the heavier end of healthy was ‘too big’.
PSA – if you are out of shape and not conventionally attractive, demanding that of a partner isn’t a good look.
That’s what I’m saying. I’m poor as sh!t, and I still do my best to get good work. I have great tattoos. He’s rich as hell, and he gets that scratchy, ugly work?!?! It’s like kindergarten refrigerator art (no shade to kindergarteners) meets lowest-caliber prison tattoos (no shade to prisoners). So bad.
He can FLY to the best tattoo parlour, he can PAY someone to research the type of artists that do the work in the style he likes. It just hurts me.
If you could have any artist do work for you, who and what would it be?
I don’t think Swifty is comparing herself to Carole King, I took it as an example of musical friends?
Unfortunately that’s the way it comes across.
Nah. Taylor has been comparing herself to Carole King for years. She even tried to play her in a film but Carole but the kabosh on it, lol.
I’m not surprised, she’s an awful actress. While Tay has a knack for a catchy tune, she’s no CK.
Spot on young lady, I agree with you!
re comparison to james taylor- ed’s an abusive alcoholic singer songwriter?
That’s the first thing I thought too – she’s comparing Ed to (alleged) wife beater James Taylor? With friends like that..!
European people have an entirely different attitude to alcohol than Americans. Sure, he probably drinks a bit too often, but that doesn’t make him an alcoholic.
European people can be alcoholics too tho.
@Vicky
I do not think it’s a European thing as much as a Brit thing, unfortunately. It’s apparently getting better with the generation following Sheeran but the drinking here is off the charts like I’ve never seen anywhere else. If you go to Central London on a Friday night beware.
Sorry but Brits have a massive problem with alcohol. Many drink to get pissed not necessarily to have a few nice civilised glasses of wine at dinner. It is a serious issue that it is clogging up the NHS in the weekends.
Excuse, me but some young Brits do and it is a problem, but we don’t all.
The worst part is you know Taylor truly believes they are the greatest musical pair since Carole and James. Both of them have the biggest ego.
I think Ed hooked up with Ellie Goulding and Selena Gomez. Gotta love that he’s still bragging about it, even though he’s supposedly happily in love. Someone needs to give him pr lessons because he comes off so douchy.
Ellie Goulding has just gone right down to the bottom of my estimation just because of that – she’s a good singer/songwriter and more talented that he is.
Doesn’t she have a song about hooking up with him? How he got too serious and she was just messing around?
Ellie Goulding has bad taste. She had a thing with Ed and dated Skrillex but didn’t have a thing with Calvin who was after her for that long LOL.
Ed is such a Taylor Swift, the way he wrote about him and Ellie’s hook-ups and basically slutshamed her because she didn’t take it seriously. Dog.
I feel bad for Selena, something really must have gone wrong for her if she had sex with that. Bieber at least had some looks.
Yep, Ellie and Selena are my bets too. I think Sing is about hooking up with Selena.
They wish they had a tenth of the talent.
the part about “testing a girlfriend” comes across as extra cringey. like he could’ve phrased it much more diplomatically but here it just betrays his self importance?
i understand that dating a famous person with a lot of social obligations can be a bit taxing especially if the one you’re going out with a borderline agoraphobic (like me).
like maybe he can say “when my album and career took off i find myself having to appear in many more to-dos as part of my professional work. some of them gets tedious, especially when you’re really hankering for a quiet night in. that my girlfriend is a great gal who is a saint and practically gets along with everyone does help a lot. we feed off each other’s energy and make it fun.”
or something? i dunno.
He went from 0 to complete douche in 3.5
He’s legit the worst. Up there with Justin Timberlake, perhaps even more punchable.
I think he’s more punchable because he hasn’t been around long enough to be this cocky
I’m saying. He has backpfeifengesicht face.
I’ve never heard a single song of his (at least I don’t think I have…?), but this interview makes me want to actively avoid his music. It’s called humility, Ed, look it up. He’s been hanging around Taylor too long. 🙄
He’s always been a bit of a douche – has had a chip on his shoulder from the get go. Success and fame only made him worse.
The douche canoe “tested” his girlfriend. But yes, let’s focus on the Swift part.
He’s definitely an alcoholic and he sounds like a douche the way he ‘tested’ his GF. And it’s hilarious to think the closest he can get to Swift romantically is through banging her friends. Like dude, shut up, it’s embarrassing how Swift is keeping him at a healthy distance as a friend and he’s drooling all over her.
I heard his new music and I still don’t understand Ed Sheeran. How is he a thing and why. And when does is stop? And why does every radio station, hairdresser, supermarket etc play his songs like it’s the only music on the planet?
And funny how he said Swift’s world is celebrity which goes right against her brand of ‘being just like us’. For non-Swift fans, it’s pretty clear that Swift LOVES the celebrity life and revels into being one of the most famous women on the planet. But her fans still think she’s their best friend lmao.
Feck off Ed you little gobshite.
he def doesn’t look 26. I thought he is 30 something.
his gf looks even older than him. i saw a pic of them together and though, oh he hooked up with someone much older. but no lol, she’s also 26.
I looked her up. She looks the same age as him? Besides.. what’s wrong with dating someone older than you or even looking oldr than your age? You just sound really petty.
Hey, hey, I like Ed Sheeran’s music. He is no James Taylor but at least he is more talented and enjoyable than Chainsmokers, The 1975. I can tolerate this Guillermo del Toro-creature reject because he makes lovely songs. He is unattractive but I don’t care.
No, no, no, and no. No. No. Just no. No.
He seems like he’s still stuck in high school (or whatever the British equivalent is).
Lower and UpperSixth – or it used to be in my day!
He actually said he doesn’t like doing magazine interviews because its always taken wrong. He is actually one of the nicest guys in the business. My cousin works with his record company and said he is so down to earth and treats everyone the same. Signed so much stuff for family and friends and recorded birthday messages etc.
Listen to his Howard Stern interview he just did this week. He isn’t a douche. And while the testing the gf thing doesnt come off great the reason he did it is because his last gf was really clingy and they even broke up the night of the brit awaRds because she was jealous he was being pulled here and there … so i can see why he’d want a gf who was sure of herself.
He’s become so annoying. I quite liked his music 2 albums ago, everything after “+” just sounded bland, other than 2 songs from his current album, there’s nothing new.
The test that he did on his girlfriend was a douche move.
Only in Trump’s Alt-Facts world Swifty!
Oh hell. There is not one sentence in those quotes that doesn’t make him look like a horrible fratbro. Bragging doesn’t even begin to describe it. And his tattoo guy should be sued.
And I love that she even mentioned Carole King and James Taylor. NEVER compare yourself in any way, shape, or form. It only highlights the fact that they had sh*t to say. Neither of you two milquetoast popstars does.
Easy, Swifty. Slow your roll there.
Perhaps look up all the songs Carole King crafted that she didn’t record.
And, btw, being the James Taylor of anything isn’t a compliment. Rofl.
i’ve met him more than once through mutual friends, and he’s actually quite a nice person, and funny too. he’s not an arsehole, just one of those people who keeps oversharing for no reason.
the kiss & tell is tacky though, and always was.
He’s become so full of himself. His recent rounds of interviews is just one big shameless tour of namedropping and proclaiming hes the biggest thing in music ever, he even claimed everyone else i copying him when half his songs sounds like someone else.
Radiohead fully endorses comments by @Leah.
Haha! His new song “castle on the hill” sounds like U2 i bet he never listened to them either 😉
This guy is pathetic.
Taylor Swift is “omnipresent,” ya’ll. Like God or the certainty of death.
You guuuuuuuuuuyz. I want to like ALL of the comments above. He can play guitar and sing quite well, but he is NO James Taylor and she IS ABSOLUTELY NO CK. GOOD LORDEeeeeeee. Dearest Cherry, please break up with this douche who has the nerve to openly discuss his other conquests and “testing” you to a reporter…. YUCK. Run gurl.
Who cares that he’s 26? That’s not a pass. I’m 24 and I know better.
Never heard of him.
AHAHAHA. That’s all I got. Missy can’t really put a deep thought in her lyrics so please don’t compare herself to Carol. I just listened to Shake it Off for the first time and I want 2 minutes of my life back. So much repetition.
Not everyone can handle power with grace, isn’t it? His songs are as ok as ok can get. Unoriginal, bland, you can’t even hate on it. Just ok.
And he seems way too excited about his fame to actually not care what everyone else thinks.
I think Sheeran is a talented guy and I enjoy his music, but he’s predictable. His last three albums are all the same. I don’t see any growth or experimentation and I think that’s what makes a great artist. He found a formula that works for him, but when people say his album will be the best of the year I have to roll my eyes.
Adele’s people called, they wanted to let Ed know that they totally agree; the formula keeps on working so why not keep going for as long as possible.
NOPE
Poor guy…he is unfortunate looking.
Honestly, I think every famous person in pop music right now is a raging, raging ego maniac, maybe worse egos than ever because they have the metrics to study their followings via Instagram, twitter, etc and the awareness of the weight their words carry with those groups. I’d like to think that there are exceptions to the pop star = titanic egomaniac equation—I’d like to think young Edie Vedder in Pearl Jam, Jeff Buckley, Alicia Keys, were all more “artists” than ego driven. But those are singers who are more interested in having a product that expresses their feelings than having a sea of people adoring them. I also think in order for a person become “Taylor Swift style” famous, you would quickly grow accustomed to receiving the screaming, crying adulation of THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people, plus a global mega base. There’s no other art or sport that exactly equals what that would do to someone’s ego. Actors get world wide adulation, yes, but they don’t get whole arena shows of it at once. Sports stars get that arena style hero worship, but even they would have an awareness that this adulation was based on their physical skills in some sport, and their skills as a team. A sports star would also have the knowledge that that skill and the adulation that it garnered has an expiration date.
Pop star is a whole different animal. I think no other lifestyle would lend itself to building yourself an ego tower as quickly or completely as most people would if they were a mega successful pop star. One of the only really grounded mega pop stars I can think of is Shakira, and I equate that her having grown up in a developing nation, and knowing that all the frivolity that comes with fame is bullshit if you don’t have food enough to eat. It is miraculous Adele is as grounded as she is, but than she doesn’t have a rabid teen base building metaphoric temples to her the way Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, etc. would. It’s that teen worship that seems the most frenetic and the most dangerous.
I don’t thinknow he’s trying to be an asshole here, but he does sound shit faced.
I don’t care how many albums she releases or how many times she hits #1 Taylor Swift isn’t fit to form Carole King’s name in her mouth let alone compare herself in any way to that genius.