Ed Sheeran on his friendship with 'most talented' Arijit Singh: I’m so grateful he shared his talent with me

Ed Sheeran has shared a heartfelt story of his recent musical collaboration with Arijit Singh, calling him “one of the most talented humans” he’s ever met.

In a detailed Instagram post, the British singer spoke of how he first discovered Arijit’s music through 'Tum Hi Ho' from the film 'Aashiqui 2', and was immediately spellbound.

Ed Sheeran raves about Arijit Singh in new post

Sheeran said he reached out to Arijit years ago and expressed his desire to collaborate. He wrote, “i first became aware of @arijitsingh music when i watched Aashiqui 2 and heard Tum Hi Ho. I was proper spellbound by his voice, the song, the scene in the movie."

He continued, "I checked him out, and got in touch, and said whenever you wanna sing together i’m down. he was playing london, so i went to guest with him and sing Perfect there, it was an incredible show. I played him an early version of Sapphire in the dressing room, and he instantly had ideas for instruments and melodies.”

Sheeran revealed that he and Arijit exchanged ideas over email before meeting in person in India while Sheeran was on tour with his father. “We then were pen pals over email for a bit, until I was in India for tour. I said to him, we should finish this in person, and he said, please come to my home town so I can show you my home and culture," he wrote.

Ed continued, "I was with my dad on tour, which is a rarity to get so much one on one time with him. Me and him got a flight to Kolkata, then a 5 and a half hour drive to his home town. We arrived, went on a barge down the river which was stunning, then got a scooty back to the studio where we finished the song,” wrote the 'Galway Girl' hitmaker.

The experience was personal for Sheeran, who called it a “core memory” he’ll always cherish with his father. He added, “Arijit taught me Punjabi and how to pronounce it all properly, and showed me Sitar. We then had dinner, and scooted around the village to see the sunset and moon with my dad. was a proper core memory i’ll always cherish with my father, and i’m honoured to have created in this way with Arijit.”

“He’s one of the most talented humans ive ever met, and i’m so grateful he shared his talent with me for this song. The full Punjabi version we recorded will be out in a couple of weeks, but until then I’ll be drip-feeding fun videos from our time together. enjoy,” Sheeran added, closing his message with deep admiration for Arijit.

Listen to ‘Sapphire’ here:

The Punjabi version of their song will be released in the coming weeks. Until then, Sheeran plans to share videos from their time together.