The acclaimed singer admits that approach is how he came up with “Shape of You” and his Justin Bieber collab, “Love Yourself.”
He’s one of the most celebrated voices in the Pop sector but not many know of Ed Sheeran‘s admiration of Rihanna. The Savage x Fenty mogul is an international superstar whose reach knows no bounds, and during his recent chat with The Breakfast Club, Sheeran shared that when he first attempts to write music, he keeps Rihanna in mind.
“So, Rihanna is always the benchmark,” said the singer. “Rihanna is always—when I go in, that’s how ‘Shape of You’ was created, ‘Love Yourself’ with Justin Bieber was created.”
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“Rihanna is such a, she’s got such great taste in songs that a certain—you can’t say what Rihanna’s style is,” he continued. “It’s just good tunes. So, when you go in the studio to create a song, always we go, what would Rihanna do? [She’s someone] I would always, always love to work with and write with or for.”
Sheeran also admitted that he has submitted work to Rihanna and they were supposed to collaborate in the past, but it just never came to fruition. “It wasn’t the right tune.” Charlamagne questioned the award-winning singer about how it feels to submit to Rihanna and not get a response. “I’ve submitted to Beyoncé before and she hadn’t picked any, but then I did ‘Perfect’ and she wanted to sing on it.”
“I know people rate me, but sometimes the songs aren’t the right songs.” Watch Ed Sheeran explain Rihanna’s style influencing how he approaches writing music below.