Ed Sheeran Surprises Sibling Super Fans as He Makes “Azizam” Comeback

How are you guys? Hi. Oh my god. Good. Will you remember this for the rest of your life? Definitely. We are joined by two lucky young special heart listeners, Pearl and Ray. Morning guys. Morning. Talk right into that mic. How are you doing? Good. So tell us all about your love for Ed Sheeran and why is he your favourite? Ed Sheeran's my favourite because I love Castle on the Hill. Love Castle on the Hill. I love Castle on the Hill. That's my favourite one. And what have you got in your hand right now? You've got some photos, right? Yeah, we've got some pictures for him. Oh, amazing. They're really good. So there's a castle on a hill there for one of your sons. You've got shivers. You've got a picture of Ed. We've got an Ed Sheeran over there. We've got a potato. A potato. You've drawn Ed Sheeran as a potato. Yes. You guys. Well listen, if you could ask any question. Another potato. Yeah, another potato. So Ray, if you could ask any question to Ed Sheeran, what would the question be? What's your favourite colour? Favourite colour. I think it's pink today. How are you guys? Hi. Oh my God. What's going on? Good. Having a good day? Yeah. Enjoying being on the bus? They've been nice? Yeah. What are these? Oh, it's Castle on the Hill. Awesome. Thank you. They've made some pictures for you, Ed. Thank you. I love it. Potato. Ed Sheeran. Let's go. What's with the potato thing, Ray? What's the story behind that? I like it. You like potatoes? I do like potatoes, yeah. Do you like potatoes? Yes. Yeah? Why did you draw a potato? Thank you. Yeah, why would you draw a potato? Right. Why a potato? I tried to draw an egg, but it turned out to be a potato. Amazing. Love it. Thank you. Did you know you was going to see Ed this morning? No, I didn't. No. Why are you so cool and calm? I mean, he is like your favourite hero. And you're just so like, oh, Ed, how are you doing? Because we're buds, isn't it? Oh, nice. His little laugh. How old are you guys? I'm seven plus nine. Is it mad, Ed, that like, you know, you've been doing this, what, ten years now, ten plus years, to have fans that weren't even born when you first came out? Yeah. Yeah, it really, but it's always, that's how you know you're kind of, when I'm doing gigs and I see people bring their kids, I'm like, that's the next generation coming through. So it's, when that stops, you know you're kind of like, in the red. It's just kids in the audience, that's another ten years, cha-ching, cha-ching. It's more just, it's more just knowing that kids are like, excited by the music, like, the music that my dad listened to, that I was a fan of, I'm still like, listening to it now, if that makes sense. Like, I love Elton John, I love listening to it, and that came from like, my dad taking me to a concert when I was younger, et cetera, et cetera. Do you know, Ed, my wife and I were talking the other day about like, artists and, you know, like Celine Dion and Cher, the greats, and we were saying like, who of our generation is going to be, like, because obviously our mums and dads used to listen to them and pass them down to us, who of our generation is going to like, be around for our kids? And we mentioned yourself, obviously Adele and people like that. Olly Murs, of course, as well. I think it's all based on like, what records mean to people, because me and my wife put on The Kooks' first album the other day, and I was like, this is honestly one of my favourite albums ever, and I think it's what the records mean to you at the time, and bringing back memories and stuff, so I think any artist can be that, as long as the record's like, important to them. What was it like meeting Ed Sheeran, guys? It was really fun. Yeah, thanks, guys. Thanks for my pictures as well. Yeah, I really loved them. Will you remember this for the rest of your life? Definitely. Ed, talk to us about that new song, and where does the title come from? It is a language called Farsi, and it means my dear in Farsi, and it was basically, the producer that I was working with, Ilya, is Persian, and whilst we were making music, he was like, let's make something within the Persian culture, and it was just fun exploring something completely new, like it's rare this far into my career to be excited by something that I haven't done before, and it felt really new and fresh, and everyone that I played it to, it's one of those ones where you don't really know how people are going to react, and everyone that I played it to was like, wow, that's different, and I think that's all I'm kind of looking for at the moment. What does it mean? What's the meaning behind it? It means my dear, my love. It's like a term of endearment, really. Incredible. How often do you do that, Ed, just write songs off the cuff? You said that you was with a producer who's Persian, let's write a song about, you know, in Persian. How often do you do that, just off the cuff, just think of something and go, you know what, I'm going to write a song of that? I think it has to always be natural. I think I couldn't have made this song had I not been in the studio with Ilya, but I think that, yeah, you kind of react to where you are at the time, who you're talking to, what's going on in your life, it all is just a flow. And I would say, like, largely, there's a lot of songs that get left to the side. You write a lot of songs, and most of them sort of get left in the, I don't know, lost and found, I guess. But yeah, I would say I try and write every single week, and if I get a song a month, I'm happy. How long have you had the song for? When did you write it? I wrote it 2023 on the USA tour. Yeah, and to be honest, I've sat on most of this record for about two years to really, really get this all right. I want to get the rollout and release, and it's been a long time since I've done, like, pop properly, and I just wanted to do it properly and get it planned. Ed, I mean, most people do know this, and they should know, that you write songs for yourself, obviously, and also so many legends. You've written for Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber. Me. Rihanna. Me. Why do you keep saying me? Well, because Ed's wrote a song with me. Well, actually wrote a song for me. He hasn't written a song for you. Yeah, we did Moves. Yeah, featuring Snoop Dogg. Exactly. Ah, that's why it was an absolute dream. Exactly. That was honestly one of the coolest things, hearing Snoop Dogg on that song. It was, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It cost a lot of money, but we got him in the end. Ed, do you look at artists and think, you know what, I'd love to write a song for them? Yeah, I mean, sometimes you're just in a room with them, and you're writing it with them, and it's their story and stuff, but often it's like finding, it's great inspiration in the studio being like, we're going to write a song for, there's like a list of people to like pitch for. It's usually like these big artists in America, and it's like so-and-so's looking for a song, and then you're like, okay, what would we want them to sound like on this record? So that's sometimes quite fun. Sometimes the songs that I end up singing myself end up from doing that, basically. Well, they were supposed to be another artist's song, and then you just think, I'm going to sing it. Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes. Even like Shivers started off as like a Bieber idea. You know, like it's, there's, it's good sometimes to have someone else in mind, because you then don't overthink it. I feel like I overthink the lyrics of my songs a lot. And sometimes songs just need to free flow. On this album coming up, is there any collaborations that we can expect? Or have you got some surprises? There's definitely surprises. I try not to do any collaborations on the actual record records, but there, yeah, I worked a lot with this Indian singer called Arijit Singh, who is really good and really wonderful. Basically, he lives in the middle of nowhere in India. It's like a three-hour flight and then a five-and-a-half-hour drive. Wow. And I was in India with my dad, and he was like, well, if you want the vocals, you have to come to me. I love that. And it was like this pilgrimage with my dad where we basically travelled for an entire day to his village. You and your dad? Yeah, and then he drove us around on mopeds around his village. It was like, it was a really fun day. So, yeah, that was a good one. What I love about you, Ed, before we go, I mean, Oli and myself are the same. We're so close to our families. You're such a family man, aren't you? How important is it to keep that family life separate from what you do, go back home, shut that door and be with the loved ones? I think it's so important, yeah. I've switched my working day to because music is very, like, fluid, and you could start studio at 8 p.m. and finish at 8 a.m. sort of thing, but I've got a strict working day of 9 to 5 so I can live a relatively normal life. And I think that that's made a huge difference of just, like, I feel like I'm a working dad, go to work at 9, come back at 5 and live life normally, you know? Amazing. Ed Sheeran. We love having you on the show. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Nice one, guys. It's been a pleasure. Ed Sheeran, everyone!