Ed Sheeran On His Long Friendship With Taylor Swift

British musician Ed Sheeran has been good friends with musical artist Taylor Swift for over a decade, and they’re still close. In a new interview with Zane Lowe on his Apple Music podcast, the 32-year-old shared how he and Swift stay in touch and what keeps them connected.

“I have long, long, long conversations with Taylor about stuff just because I feel like she’s one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at,” Sheeran told Lowe. “Because she’s solo artist, she’s stadiums.”

He said that they’d actually caught up just before the interview, talking for over 90 minutes.

“We were just — everything that was on our minds we talked about, I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it,” he explained. “That has all the things that you feel and have insecurities about and how other people treat you or how your family treats you, how your friends treat you, she’s just basically in the same sphere.”

Swift and Sheeran have performed together frequently over the years and he is even returned on the recording of her iconic album Red (Taylor’s Version) on the track “Everything Has Changed.”

Swift has also talked about her friendship with Sheeran over the years and how important it is to her. In 2015, she even shouted him out when she won her first Brit award for best international female artist.

“Honestly, I know I wouldn’t be up here if it wasn’t for one of my best friends, who took me to pubs and taught me how to make a good cup of tea and taught me everything I know about the UK,” she declared in her acceptance speech. “I just want to say I love you, Ed Sheeran.”

Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.