Ed Sheeran has collaborated with many artists in the past already - spanning from Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Chance the Rapper, Elton John, Eminem, and even Beyonce, among many others.
His songs, mostly pop, folk pop, and even soft rock, have attracted a lot of audience and following, even straddling between different genres like hip hop.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sheeran revealed a never-before-heard fact about on of the biggest songs of his career - "Shape of You."
Ed Sheeran 'Shape of You' Duet with Jay-Z?
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Sheeran, who is scheduled to release his new album "-," the latest album of his Mathematics era, revealed that his song, "Shape of You," is supposed to have a rap verse with Jay-Z.
"We were in touch," he confessed. "I sent him the song, and he said, 'I don't think the song needs a rap verse.' He was probably right. He's got a very, very good ear. He usually gets things right. It was a very natural, respectful pass."
The pass on the collaboration didn't seem to take Sheeran on a bad note, as he seemed to agree with it.
"Shape of You" came from the album "÷," his second album, released in 2017. Elsewhere in the album, he also put out "Perfect," which got a duet with none other than - Jay-Z's wife - Beyonce. The duet further cemented the song atop the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and it has been certified platinum in many countries.
Despite the Beyonce collab, "Shape of You" remained one of Sheeran's greatest hits - essentially proving that with or without Jay-Z's verse, the song would still go on to greater heights.
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Ed Sheeran' Shape of You' Explored: Sales, Lawsuit
Released alongside "Castle on the Hill" as double singles of Ed Sheeran's "÷," "Shape of You" went on to become one of the best-selling digital singles of all time after it sold 41.5 million copies worldwide in 2018.
The song even won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance and was ranked by Billboard as the tenth most successful song of all time.
With a song of this magnitude comes a huge controversy - a lawsuit that greatly impacted Sheeran's mental health and finances. In 2022, it was alleged that "Shape of You" infringes on a 2015 song by Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue called "Oh Why."
The high-profile copyright infringement case affected Sheeran, but it was eventually ruled out that Sheeran "neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied" the song.
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