British singer Ed Sheeran has spoken out on NPO Radio 2 and announced that he is releasing a Christmas song for the first time with his friend and colleague Elton John. He did that on the morning show Jan-Willem Start Op when a listener wanted to know if he wouldn’t want to make a Christmas record sometime.
At first, Sheeran answers that question hesitantly. “Something is coming in December,” he says a few times to presenters Jan-Willem Roodbeen and Jeroen Kijk in de Vegte. And then: “And it’s fucking great.”
Finally, he confirms that a Christmas issue is indeed coming. According to Sheeran, the two NPO Radio 2 DJs are the first to whom he tells this news.
According to Sheeran, Elton John called him on Christmas morning last year and suggested they make a Christmas record together. Sheeran says he didn’t really feel like a Christmas record suited him, he never had the ambition to make a Christmas song.
Until a good friend of his died in March and he thought: “You don’t know if you’ll still be there tomorrow, everything can change overnight. Maybe I won’t be here tomorrow. Why not take this chance?”
Sheeran and Elton John, who are in close contact, wrote three songs together and one of them is the new Christmas single. Steve Mac produced the song. He was also responsible for the well-known Sheeran songs Shape Of You and Shivers.