Ed Sheeran Says Being Friends With Taylor Swift Is Like ‘Therapy’

Ed Sheeran is thankful for his friendship with Taylor Swift. In a new interview, the 32-year-old singer opened up about how his friendship with the pop star is like “therapy.”

“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 said. The “Thinking Out Loud” singer added that he recently spent over an hour on the phone with Swift.

“Everything that was on our minds we talked about,” he said of their conversation. “I mean, that in itself is kind of therapy as well because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it.” The English singer-songwriter said Swift shares his same feelings and insecurities about how people, friends, and family treat you. “She’s just basically in the same sphere,” he said of his longtime pal.

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The duo have also collaborated on a few songs together. Last year, they released “The Joker and The Queen.” In 2021, Sheeran was featured on Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) vault track “Run.” He was also featured on her 2017 track “End Game,” and 2012’s “Everything Has Changed.”

Sheeran released his sixth studio album Friday (May 6), Subtract. It is the fifth and final entry in his series of albums titled with mathematical symbols. Take a look below to see a breakdown of the tracklist.

Ed Sheeran's 'Subtract': Track By Track

• 1. Boat

  The opening song reflects on how the singer must need to feel pain in order to remind him that “there’s beauty when it’s bleak.” He explores how people say “all scars will heal,” but he knows that for himself, they might not. Despite that, the waves won’t break his boat.

• 2. Salt Water

  Continuing his journey of healing and using oceanic metaphors, Sheeran opens up in the first line of “Salt Water,” “There’s still so far to go.” The song is quite morbid as it seems as though the artist is subjecting himself to drown himself in the freezing cold ocean, “embrace the deep and leave everything.” Though it is quite a sad song, it is soothing as well.

• 3. Eyes Closed

  Clearly a song written during the pandemic, Sheeran sings, “I know it’s a bad idea, but how can I help myself? Been inside for most this year, and I thought a few drinks, they might help.” He belts out, “I’ve been dancing with my eyes closed.” Everyone can find something in the lyrics they can relate to.

• 4. Life Goes On

  Slowing things down again with the fourth track, Sheeran reflects on a love lost. This can be interpreted as a breakup or a close friend or family member dying. The storm continues with the singer-songwriter’s references with waves and “sinking like a stone.”

• 5. Dusty

  This song is pretty chill. “Dusty” appears to reference a record player as Sheeran sings, “I’ll drop the needle on Dusty.”

• 6. End Of Youth

  Now this is a powerful song. Sheeran explores his substance abuse when he sings, “I’ve been depressed since you left. Tried to fill the hole with wine. Stopped the drugs when she came, cleaned my act up overnight.” As we previously reported, Sheeran said he never really felt like an adult until the last few years. “When heavy life stuff just starts happening. And it really hit me that this obviously happens to everyone, it doesn’t matter what age you are.”

• 7. Colourblind

  We’re loving all these artistic metaphors in “Colourblind.” You can really visualize everything he sings about. And how romantic is it are the lines, “Kaleidoscope love, yeah that is you and me. Forever changing, we make life interesting.” There is a magical element with the piano and twinkling sounds.

• 8. Curtains

  Changing the sound once again, Sheeran goes with a pop rock sound with “Curtains.” Ready to pull the curtains from his hiding spot, the song shows he is ready to see the sun shine.

• 9. Borderline

  This song explores depression and how he cannot cry, so he pours another drink and tries to drown the pain. “And I’ll shut off the things I think ‘coz nothing good will ever come from worrying.”

• 10. Spark

  In order to get out of a rut and move forward with his lover, they need to “build a fire and torch our old lives and hope the spark survives.” Something that is terrifying to go through in a relationship, he wonders, “Will we pull through? All we ever do is argue.”

• 11. Vega

  Ed Sheeran never runs out of metaphors to express his feelings both beautifully and sadly. “Rain keeps beating on the rooftop , worrying to death but I guess this is human nature.”

• 12. Sycamore

  This beautiful song is about a time of real fear and uncertainty, the musician revealed in his “Subtract Sunday” series. “We start life born with love and end it full of love, so it’s love in, love out x.” He added that this song is about the moment before we’re “driven to the doctors for a checkup on what the next steps were, after finding out the news.”

• 13. No Strings

  This song is about overcoming hardships and allowing yourself to celebrate that. He tells us that “what we’re going through is common, but it doesn’t mean we don’t feel it.”

• 14. The Hills of Aberfeldy

  The final track is inspired by the tiny Scottish town he visited over ten years ago. The “bonnie” tune is about a love that could continue in the cold, underneath the hills of Aberfeldy, and whatever conquers the relationship.