Ed Sheeran has said he doesn’t think ‘Love Yourself’ would be “as big” if he hadn’t given it to Justin Bieber.
The ‘=’ musician co-wrote the single alongside Benny Blanco and Bieber for the latter’s fourth studio album, 2015’s ‘Purpose’.
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During a conversation with Jack Antonoff about the tracks they’ve written for other artists, Sheeran explained: “I feel like the one that is the slam dunk, whenever I’m at a gig, to play someone else’s song that I had written would be Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ because it was so massive for him (via Yahoo!).
“I think it’s his biggest song… anywhere in the world, if I picked up a guitar and played that, they’d be like ‘Oh my god, you wrote that!’.”
He continued: “People always say, ‘Why didn’t you keep it?’ And to be honest, he was on such a roll at that point that I think it wouldn’t have been as big if I’d sung it.
“He had his whole period of his life that was a bit…you know what I mean…. And America loves a comeback story.”
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‘Love Yourself’ spent six weeks at Number One in the UK, according to the Official Charts Company. In the US, it remained in the top 10 for 24 non-consecutive weeks.
Sheeran previously revealed that the track was originally written for his third album, 2017’s ‘÷’. “It just wouldn’t have made it,” he added. “And then Justin took it and did his thing on it, and released it as a single and made it what it is.”
Ed Sheeran recently released a festive collaborative single with Elton John, ‘Merry Christmas’. Proceeds from the track go towards the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
In a three-star review, NME described the song as “a nice, safe, mid-paced sleigh ride through lyrics simple enough for your young relatives to recite, and sleepy enough to ensure your Nan doesn’t spill her eggnog.”