Ed Sheeran Talks Everything From New Album, Family Life & More! Plus, Listen to the Live Performance Here

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, one or two sevenKids FM Los Angeles rolling up on eight
thirty this morning. I've been toldby Beadda that Ed Shearon has arrived and
is in the building, So Iknow, very exciting. Uh. He
was on American Idol last night,talked about that and you guys were there
too. Everybody was there. It'sfunny. I walked out and I saw

(00:20):
a sign that said Seacrest and Ithought, ye oh, my gosh,
after all these years, a fan, let's come, someone who listens to
the show, has made their way, has gotten tickets and is there.
Turns out it was Chewy Martinez.Yeah, and the kids, all of
us, we had two made thesign. Yeah, we had well honest
heads with your names. Ye werebusy makeing signs for your kids over the

(00:42):
weekend start of the week. Umno, no, no, so yeah.
Did you feel there? Even Georgialoves the signe Georgia welcomed. Come
on, anybody, how are youare you? We were just talking about
you? How about hi? Hi? Everybody? So Ed has arrived and

(01:04):
has arrived here a show. Edhas throne over there, live show.
So we are on live just justto be because yesterdays drink a gallon of
water. Day. I love that. Yesterday before Idol, we went through
words you can't say on TV andhe had a very funny joke which we
can't make here. Yes, yes, but it was it was candid edge
hearing. Yeah, yeah, Ihave I have a like arsenal of dad

(01:27):
jokes now that actually I have onethat I can say on it. Okay,
great, what did the DJ callhis son? What did the DJ
case? Have you used that before? And does it GETNA laugh every time?
Definitely? That's definitely in the dadjokes are yeah, well, good
morning, good to see you.What's going on? Yeah, it's nice,
Yeah, nice to be it.Yesterday was really cool for me.

(01:49):
Man. I've never actually sat ina judge's chair on tal I mean,
I've got I've played the shows,you know, talent shows like that before
and in the sound check I'll goand sit in the judge's chair and take
a picture and be like, butI've never actually sat in a judge's chair
before. So it's like, it'sreally nice. There's such talented people though,
I mean, you know what's interesting, ed is that And if if
you've seen American Aile this season,you know if you haven't, you know,

(02:10):
to check it out, because theseare contestants that were I mean one
was working on machinery, one wasfixing and air conditioning not too long ago.
And there they are standing on thatstage singing, I mean singing your
lyrics, watching you who wrote thosesongs. Yeah, watching them sing those
songs, but not only as soloist, as duets. And and I actual

(02:30):
about a little bit last night,but when you were driving away thinking about
that, what was that dynamic trulylike for you? Um? Well,
I just I don't listen to myown music, so I don't hear those
songs like every single day. Youmean you don't, I mean like I
won't just be in the car andplay yeah Divide. And you know,
I obviously play the songs every weekendwhen I do these shows, but seeing

(02:53):
people cover them is so lovely becausepeople always have a different take and spin
on it. And I also Iwas sitting next to Luke yesterday and he
was showing me the cards of whothey were and where they were from.
They're so young, like seventeen andeighteen. It's mad I teenager, and
yeah the Country Voice is really reallyyoung team really Yeah, and I really

(03:14):
feel what I was saying to themyesterday is like, whoever wins. It's
obviously a big deal for whoever wins, but just to be at that point
in the show where you were havingtwenty three million people vote every week,
that's such a great launch pad forthem. They can just come off the
show, like the three people thatcame off the show yesterday, can come
off heads held high and walk straightinto a career and just work. Well,
you know, Ed was talking himbefore the show, and I think

(03:35):
that was the advice you were giving. You were saying, like, you
know, you're here, you didyou did it like you did something massive.
Now it's what you do immediately after. Yeah, I mean not rushing.
I mean Harry Stars was you know, he's arguably one of the biggest
stars, well the biggest artists inthe world, and he came off a
talent show and didn't come first.He made like a good boy, you

(03:57):
know, and he Yeah, youthink that was hard to wait? Or
you think he knew what he wasdoing. Yeah, I think he knew
what he was doing. I thinkyeah, because you know, he learned
how to play guitar, he'd learnedhow to write songs, and he's it's
become fantastic at both you know,So I think it's it's good. What
a busy week it's been for you. Yeah, you've You've had a lot
going on in this week. Congratulationson a great speech that you mean,

(04:20):
Oh, thank you. I kindof like, you know, the court
case ended, and then I wentto bed. I was so shattered from
the week. And then I wokeup and I was like, oh man,
the album came out this morning.And then I went to bed after
that day promoting it, and thenI woke up and I was like,
oh man, my tool starts.And then I was in Dallas and I
was like, oh man, I'man idol tomorrow. It's been quite I've

(04:42):
kind of I was having a conversationthis morning about it, like I don't
know if I can actually like processanything that has happened in the last two
weeks or the album coming, becauseeverything's just happened really, really really fast.
Yeah, but I'm I'm loving thatthe record is out. People are
connecting to it more than anything I'veever put out before. It's like a
weird it's it's a it's a weirdone. Fans are being so connected to

(05:04):
it, like so so personally connectedto it, And is that do you
think that's because of the things thatyou're singing about that are really difficult personally
for people at times? Yeah,I think it's I sort of put myself
out on a line, like Idon't I've had things that I've felt throughout

(05:25):
my entire childhood and adult life,but I don't necessarily like talk about them.
And then it all kind of cameup last year through my friend dying
or Cherry's diagnosis or being in thecourt case last year or whatever, and
writing about them felt quite raw forme, and I was like, I
don't know if I want to releasethese because it's very h you know,

(05:46):
embarrassing personal stuff. And then Ithink putting it out people connect to it
because it is feelings that people feeland they don't necessarily talk about. So
I think it's nice to have.I'm sort of feeling it's like a different
lens on an album. Like Iusually put out albums and they have like
big songs on them that the songsthat drive people to listening to the album,
whereas this is it's a different feeling. It's like a it's an album

(06:10):
that people will have for certain thingsrather than like bad habits. When you're
going out, you press play andyou get ready to it and you go
out. You might hear it inthe club. But this record just isn't
that. It just exists in adifferent sphere and space. And do you
know, I found it interesting watchingyour documentary ed Cheering with Us now Subtractice
out and the Disney Plus documentary isout as well. I found it a

(06:31):
lot interesting. I mean, asI said to you last night when you
came for rehearsal, I've known you, but not really known you, you
know, And I feel like justwatching that, like I know you,
I feel closer to you and understandingyou and your songs even more. So,
maybe you want to go back andlisten to everything well from a different
point of view. Yeah, thedocumentary is a weird one as well,
because I kind of like I'd madea documentary before I did this one on

(06:56):
Divide being made called songwriter, andit's it was all just me in the
studio writing the song. And that'skind of what music documentaries end up being.
It's like backstage at a gig,or like in the studio doing this
or maybe on a photo shoot.And when the guys came to me and
said, we want to make adocumentary on you, that's what I thought
we were doing. I thought wewere making a documentary like that, and
through life unraveling, it just turnedinto this different thing. And now it's

(07:18):
not a music documentary, it's adocument about lots of lots of other things.
Well, you said in the documentaryyou talk about when does one become
an adult? And I thought thatwas an interesting concept. Yeah. I
feel like like kids, you sortof don't realize how even as teenagers,
you don't realize how easy it isuntil you become an adult and then things

(07:43):
start happening. But heavy adult thingshappened to kids as well, and two
teenagers and it really made me reflectwhen I lost my friend. It made
me reflect on friends of mine thathad lost their parents when they were like
ten or seven, and I waslike, that's when you became an adult.
And we didn't realize that you realizeat the time because we didn't get
it. We would just you know, you try to be there for your
friend. But it's a yeah,it's like I feel like when when heavy

(08:07):
adult stuff happens at any point inyour life. That's when you become an
adult. And it might happen whenyou're forty, and it might happen when
you're fall It's interesting to say,if you have not suffered or experienced that
kind of tragic loss with someone closeor a family member, you don't quite
understand it. It's the same withhaving kids, right, I mean,
you said to me last night,I'm gonna go call my kids before the
show, and they said, youhave kids, and they said no,
Yeah, it's a long story.But I think that's another thing, like

(08:31):
when you have kids, you lookat things differently and you understand like differently
too, right, Yeah, yeah, I think that as life goes on,
my lens is getting clearer. Ithink, you know, you get
less. I think your twenties arejust about figuring stuff out and making mistakes.
And I feel getting into thirties,having kids, going through loss,
going through like it just brings youcloser to the things that matter to family

(08:54):
and to whatever. But but yeah, I'm a yeah, this is five
minutes in. This is getting deep. It's going to be there now that
we've all seen the documentary, it'sall going to be deep. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, it's ed cheeringwith this This morning subtract is out Disney
Plus it's called some of It All. And the other thing We're gonna take
a Britain cot back and I thinkyou brought a guitar, I hope,

(09:16):
So yeah, I was gonna say, well, which song should we play?
Like I think he's gonna play mygreat um. The other thing I
really loved because I advocate working hardand hustling. I really loved your persistence
early on where you said, youknow some artists or artists might go out
and play a gig a week,I'm gonna play three and night that I
was like fired up by that.I'm sure you're the same as this as

(09:37):
well when you started out, butI sort of looked at myself and I
was like, I'm not as goodas other people, but I know that
I can outwork them, like Iknow, like I know, if I'm
not the best guitarist or the bestsinger or the best songwriter, the one
tool that I have in my toolkit is that I can work really hard
and that will be the thing.And then too working hard, like it
would be the same for you,and like like everyone in this in this

(10:00):
room you then become really good atthe thing because you're doing so yeah,
it's um yeah, that was basically. I was just on a scene in
London and every gig that I playedthere were people that would noticeably a lot
better than me, and I waslike, well, I got to do
something here. So yeah, that'sthe thing you can control. You can
control your output. Totally, totally, totally. All right, let's come

(10:24):
back with Ed Shearon. You're onone or two point seven Kiss FM one
or two point seven Kiss FM.I'm just laughing. Ed Shearon is with
us in studio this morning here.And I was on my way into work
yesterday and I was going down Melroseand all the shops are there. It
was beautiful day yesterday, gorgeous,and I saw these people lined up out
silon mellers. I'm like, ohmy gosh, there must be a sale.

(10:45):
I wonder if there's a clearance saleor something one of these great stores.
I look over and there's a yellowbuilding and says Ed cheering on it,
and then I guess I missed it. But then you came up in
the double decker bus. Right.At least sort of pop ups across the
country as one in Boston, oneof Chicago, one in Dallas that I
did on Saturday, one in NewYork that I did Friday, and then
yeah, I did this yesterday,and it's it's fun. Like I haven't

(11:09):
really done interactive fan events in youknow, years. I remember, like
my first album, I would liketweet out I'm going to be here,
and then sure loads of people come, but those fans who are like thirteen
fourteen then and now like in twentyso it's it's a different thing like having
this like pop up shop. Everyonecomes to and there's vinyls, there's bottles,

(11:31):
all sorts of stuff, and yeah, I just did a pop up
gig yesterday, but it kind ofhas to be like organized chaos. Yeah
it looked pressed it you messed itout, but it has to be pre
planned, like approved with police andstuff like that. So it's how long
did you play? I did threesongs, and then I came to you
by the way you came to me, and then we found out in that

(11:52):
same moment that the King and theQueen were going to make a cameo on
American Like, yeah, I wasjust sort of there and then I turned
around Lionel Richie's interviewing the King,and I was like, this is like
his first public appearance since being youknow, crowned. He's an American idol.
This is mad. It was interesting, right, awesome? Yeah,
like it's definitely like definitely messer init. I was. It was funny

(12:20):
because they so King Charles the Third, the coronation, and the King and
the Queen afterwards throw a party.I guess last night, which was a
concert. Katy Perry and Lionel Richiewere performing at the concert, so in
UK time, they had already performedby the time we were going on.
So I was like, these preplanned questions and they prerecorded it because they
said something that Alanis had said,and I was like, are they watching?

(12:41):
Yes, so they were live duringthe show. The must have been
like two o'clock in the moon,didn't you see. I felt like it
was like the fatigue setting in byyeah, because with liquidation or yeah,
that was the moment. I waslike, I was like, they pre
recorded these questions and Ryan's asking thethings and yeah, and then um Katie

(13:03):
said something Alana said it. Iwas like, oh, here are watching.
I thought it would have been waymore small fluidity or quid. Yeah.
I didn't want to risk saying thaton TV because I would tongue tie
it like quidity. It's hard tosay. Um. Edge sharing with this
this morning, so they brought inyour get Yeah. Yeah. We were

(13:24):
talking about songs that we like.We did have a chance to listen to
the album and the bonus tracks.Yes, you got to make sure you
check out. And last night wewere playing some of the music. I
don't call music videos, what doyou I really I really appreciate that.
By the way, I've never donea show that showcase the album so much.
I was. It was great todo. And I was singing along
to Dusty and Sisney. What's oneof your favorite color blind? Color Blind?

(13:48):
The first few lyrics of that song, Kaleidoscope Love. You just hit
us with that that phrase right there, when you think about kaleidoscope love,
and then you say like forever changing, Like our love is like forever changing,
just like a kaleidoscope, all thedifferent colors. It's just like,
actually, I felt very beautiful.I'm like wow, and it makes me
feel very inadequate about my thoughts,like I can't I'm like wow, I

(14:09):
can't think of beautiful things like thatyou feel it, but you feel it
when you hear it, right,No, thank you, Well, I
was saying, I just whenever Ithink of something like that, I write
it down in my notes and Ijust have loads and loads of phrases and
then it grows from there. Well, or like I'll be writing a song
and I'll just flick through my notesand be like, oh, that actually
I'm gonna work. Yeah, I'mgonna use that today. But I had

(14:30):
that. I had the chorus ofcolor Blind for years and years and years,
but it was more just it wasjust going okay without any words to
it. It was just like hums. And then I sat down and finished
it. And in the documentary whereyou guys are sitting like are you in
your living room? Sometimes with themicrophone and the recording equipment in the dock.

(14:54):
No, it was mostly like Iwas on tour as hotel, Yeah,
I sort of. My My rulefor the documentary was no kids and
no inside my house because I didn'twant anyone to watch it and like to
be able to break into my houseand no where things are safe. My
rule was just no kids and noinside of the house. So in the

(15:16):
Dusty video. Those are actors thenplaying. Yeah, so that's a girl
who came and acted in the video. I mean she was ten, I
think, and my daughters three,So it's very are you making was the
Bad Pancakes? Yeah? It waspancakes. I was slightly distracted by the
making of the pancakes video, right, Yeah, it was weird. I
was thinking, yeah, just havea concept for a video. So I

(15:37):
went to Mea who made all thevideos, and I was just like,
for Dusty, I just want tomake pancakes with an actress playing my daughter.
That concept well last for about thirtyseconds, so we had to find
a way to extend it. Butyeah, I think the videos were really
fun to do. I did likefourteen videos in sixteen days, just like
one after the other after the other. After it was a water called I

(16:00):
really really regret one. It wasyour idea. So yeah. So so
one writing an album that is somuch water themed, and two not saying
because they said, you know,we can fly to la and we can
we can film the music videos there, and I was like, no,
no, I want to be aroundmy family. So we're going to film
and Suffolk in December in the Northsea. So I'm standing there it's like

(16:22):
two degrees and like we we hadto have someone on site that was like
taking my pulse between like takes.Yeah. And then and then I did
these photos with Annie Leibovitz and shecame in in January and she's like,
right, the first picture I wantyou submerged in this lake in Suffolk in
January. And it was just like, it's the coldest I've ever beaten.
Did you you had a wet suitunder your clothes? Yeah, not for

(16:44):
the anything she wanted. He wascarrying an anchor, dragging an anchor on
the sand, and He's what I'mthinking, this is like I'm catch a
cold watching Yeah, it was verycold. I definitely regret the insistence of
like, no, no, Idon't have to go to Los Angeles because
I look back on it and I'mlike, I could have written an album
about being in the Caribbean. Alot of arts are inspired by that blue

(17:04):
water. All right, So youwant to do eyes close sharing with us
live. I know it's a badidea. How can I hold myself?
Been inside almost this shit and Ithought a fu drinks they might out it's
been a while. I did dothen't hit the cards I've down, still

(17:26):
holding back these tests when my friendsare somewhere else. I pictured this year
a little bit different. When itis February. I stepping the bar.
It hit me so hard. Howcan it be this heavy? Every song
reminds me of gun and I feeldull. I'm forming my throat because I'm
here alone. Just stance here withmy eyes closed, because everywhere I look

(17:52):
I still see you, and timeis moving so slow, and now I
don't know what outstand I can do. So I keep dancing with my hyay
eyes eyes closed, stay eye eyesOh, I keep dancing with my delusion

(18:12):
is here again, and I thinkyou'll come home soon. What brings me
right back in? Then it's onlyme that's in this room, I guess,
so I could just be ten.The colors are more than blue,
but I lost more than my friend. I can't help me missing you.
I pictured this month a little bitdifferent. No one is ever ready.

(18:33):
I went it unfolds, You're gettingthe whole? How can it be this
heavy? Everything changes, nothing's thesame, except the truth is now You're
gone, and life just goes on. So I'm dancing with my eyes closed
because everywhere I look, I stillsee you, and time is moving so

(18:55):
slow, and now I don't knowwhat eut stand that I can do.
So I keep dancing with my yayai eyeshi ay eyes closed, stayi eyes.
Oh. I keep dancing with myya ya eyes hei yahya eyes closed,

(19:15):
stay your eyes. Oh. Ikeep dancing with my shutting the bar,
cleaning the floor. Everyone is alreadyhome, but I'm on my own,
still dancing with my eyes closed,because everywhere I look, I still

(19:36):
see you. The time is boomingso slow. I don't know what else
that I can do. So Ikeep dancing with my ya yai eyes hi
yahya eyes closed, stay aye eyes. Oh. I keep dancing with my
high ya yai eyes hi yah yai. It's closed. Oh. I keep

(20:03):
this in with my good Sharon livethis morning before nine, seamlessly perfect,
everless, just grabs a guitar andgoes right into it. Why are my
sweatings like I'm so wow? You'refeeling it? Get a quick break coming
back with that? Hang on.Thank you, Ginger, A beautiful sunny

(20:26):
day at Sharon. You brought thesunshine today to so Cal. Okay,
we got mid seventies across the boarda high seventy five in San Bernardino and
right now it is sixty one inHollywood with Us in the studio. New
album subtract Us out now. TheSum of It All is now streaming on
Disney Plus if you want to watchthat documentary. You know something ed but
I found interesting yesterday after you wantAmerican Idol, everybody kept saying this about

(20:48):
you, and I don't want toembarrass you, and you've probably heard this
before, but they kept saying,Wow, he's so they'd say nice,
but they would say he's so downto earth. I find it interesting that
people make a point to say thatpeople are down to earth, right,
because it must mean that there's alot of people that that's what That's what
I was getting at, right,And I think that there's a well,
there's a there's a graciousness and agratefulness that you carry with you. Is

(21:11):
that how you grew up? Isthat? Where is that coming in?
The groundedness? Where's it coming from? I think it is growing, you
know, making sure you introduce yourselfto everyone and making sure you say thank
you and please and stuff. Ithink that's like always been something that my
parents are put in me. ButI think that I honestly think that quote
unquote down to earthness comes from beingBritish. I think in Britain we're sort

(21:33):
of if you're a successful start,I mean, anyone will tell you this,
from Harry to Adele to whoever,Mumpton, Sons, Coldplay, but
you there's you're sort of told thatthere's nothing special about you. You kind
of underdog, underdog undug and whenyou get successful, it's like you get
battered by it by everyone, butthere's sort of a pride in the in
the in the insults basically your ours, but also like don't you get too

(21:56):
big for your boots. Whereas Ithink in America there's this um the American
dream is real and when people achievethings, everyone else looks at them and
goes, well done. You achievethat. That makes me think that I
can achieve it. Whereas in Englandit's very much they build you up to
tear you down, but if youstay on top for long enough, then
you become a national treasurer and everyone. So Chris Martin's entering into that now

(22:18):
where everyone's like, we love ColePlaying, we love Chris Martin, but
He's definitely had times in his careerwhere it's been difficult public reception wise in
England, and I've had my fairshares of ups and downs of that.
So I come over to America andI'm like, oh, people like me.
I played like the Dallas Cowboys Stadiumon Saturday, and I haven't played
in American like five years, andI remember stepping out on stage for the

(22:41):
first time and being like, Oh, people still like me here. This
is wow, coo cool, whereasit like, I don't know, there's
there's like a you think people arenot going to like you at some point,
is there? Well? I mean, at some point a career slowed
down. For what you and Cherrywere talking about that in the scene right
documentary scene and you were saying thatat some point it slows down to the
heat is less well, I meanlike Paul McCartney was in the biggest band

(23:04):
ever and eventually it's you know,eventually it slows down. But she asked
you, how will you cope withthat? And how do you I mean,
if that happens, like, well, you know you're in you're in
a business where it like I writemusic for me and if I didn't want
to. If I didn't help peoplethought about it, I wouldn't release it.
I just I just write it forme, and that would be So
there's a it's it's a business ofpopularity. You're in a business of popularity.

(23:27):
Like people have to like you tolisten to the radio show. People
have to like me to listen tomy music. So there's obviously when that
stops happening, it's like a shiftof like have I done something wrong or
the people and I And it islike I was discussing this earlier as well,
with with with someone, it's likeyour friends with someone at school and

(23:47):
then your lives would grow apart whenyou're you're older. And I feel like
sometimes it's that with a with afan base, you know, like my
fans who discovered me when they wereeleven or twelve and now in the mid
twenties, and they might have differenttastes in music, and it's about like
it's about just making I make musicfor me and I put it out and
I have to just accept that whoeverlikes it likes it, and if people
move on from it or people findother things that that's fine too. You

(24:11):
know. It's a I don't know, Like people will have listened to your
show for however many years, andthere will be people that kind of veer
away and then come back, orpeople that have been with you the whole
time, or people that haven't listenedto you ever that are listening to you
with the first time to stay andgoing. You know what, I like
Ryan, I'm gonna listen to himtomorrow. It's just like that. That's
what a career is. A careerisn't just being on top the entire time.
I feel like, you know whenwhen it's something that you love,

(24:33):
like I love this, you lovewhat you do, and something that like
I didn't do in front of peopleforever, I did in my bedroom this
right with a microphone. You justyou want to prove it. I want
to prove every day, Like Iget up and I turn on the mic
and I thing. I want toprove that I should in Keyan band.
It's crazy for people to listen toyour show and think that, because there
they'll look at you and be like, you're right in Seacrest, like you've
been on top of the game forblah blah blah. But it is the

(24:53):
want and need to keep going andkeep pushing it that I think keeps careers
going, you know, long time. It's a good thing. You also
talk about your legacy and what youwant it to be, and I love
the fact that you take seriously encouragingyoung talent, young people pursuing what it
is that they want to pursue.Well, I do you know, I

(25:14):
wouldn't be where I am now ifI hadn't have watched Damien Rice at a
gig when I was eleven and methim in a bar afterwards and then gone,
do you know what, I'm goingto pick up a guitar tomorrow and
I'm going to write a song.So whenever I see kids, I'm even
if they have like one iota ofinterest in writing songs or playing music,
I'm like, look where I camefrom, which is you know, tiny
farming town in Suffolk, Like noone's made it out of my area,

(25:37):
Like like, and I did it. You know. I went to a
normal school and I moved to Londonat seventeen and I started on the gig
circuit and I wasn't good and thishappened. So and I meet kids sometimes
that are like like on the showyesterday, there's seventeen eighteen year olds.
They're way better than I was atseventeen. So do you think if they
put in the same stuff, they'regoing to be far greater than I've got

(26:00):
to You know, it's a Ithink it's just also reminding people that music
is a real job. You know, so many people said to me,
like, you should probably get realjob to fall back on or go to
university. And you know, allthose people now will see my job as
a real job, whereas before itwasn't. But I think it's so matually
the specificity in that moment where someoneshowed you you could do it right,

(26:21):
and when you gave the young boyguitar in your in your hometown, you
know, that specificity will change thatperson's life. One person. For I
wish I could show you that hometownas well, because that is it's so
like people see England, they goLondon, but England is a It's like
looking at America and just thinking thatAmerica is New York. America is huge
and there's so many different things andyeah, if you ever have time,

(26:45):
come to it. Switch Well thebar, I mean I like the bar.
The bar seems cool out that seemslike Thanks for coming man. Great
to see you last night on athis morning, continue man, thank you
so much happiness. It's not loston me that this is, you know,
a really great platform for you toallow me on. So thank you
so much and I'll see you nexttime. Okay, I SFM and Los

(27:07):
Angeles is kiss a fem