Pop Corner: Ed Sheeran on the songs he gave away and the ones he kept for himself

Sheeran’s single Shape of You was originally meant for Rihanna, while Justin Bieber’s megahit Love Yourself was intended for new album ÷ Divide


TRACK OF THE WEEK
Ed Sheeran - Shape of You
We are into Ed Sheeran's new vibey direction. He's going out! He's having fun! He's not thinking about his exes! Shape of You riffs on where Bloodstream ends, taking the party on to the next bar. Fun fact: This was originally written for Rihanna, doncha know. Except we can't imagine Rihanna singing the line about "you and me go out for all you can eat/ you fill up your bag and I fill up a plate".

Elsewhere, Sheeran has been talking about writing Love Yourself for Justin Bieber. He told a UK radio station: "That was a song I had written for ÷ (Divide). It just wouldn't have made it. And then Justin took it and did his thing on it, and released it as a single and made it what it is. So going from a song that would have never been released to [being] the biggest song of last year... it just shows you that you shouldn't always write stuff off."

Hero of the week is Olly Alexander from Years and Years, who told the BBC that he's keen to be open about his mental health. "All throughout school, I really struggled with mental health problems, loads of different things, and I never told anyone. Never told my mum. And I think, looking back, it began to eat away at me. I wish I had talked sooner." He went on: "[Celebrities] don't ever want to tell anyone how to live their life, but the more we can share our experiences, the more we can help each other out."

Zero of the week is overthinking things, according to superstar songwriter Julia Michaels. On writing Selena Gomez's Good For You she explained: "We actually did it on a Sunday in 45 minutes... I had '14 carat' written down in my notes on my phone, and I kind of just went in the room and sang pretty much from the first verse down to the end of the chorus; just straight on the mic."

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NOW CLICK HERE to listen to Olly Alexander's BBC interview in full.