"I feel like that has to happen at some point"

Ed Sheeran has listed Drake as his dream collaboration, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly in which he discusses how much the rapper is inspiring him on his follow up to ‘÷‘.

Sheeran said that he plans to move away from the acoustic guitar on his new album, saying: “I kind of learned from looking at how Drake does it. Drake puts out these albums that are huge but then in between he sticks out projects and however big the project is, it doesn’t really matter because it’s not the album, if that makes sense. It just clears the air for the next album.”

He explained that he’s got plenty of dream collaborations in his sights for the new album, but the Canadian rapper is his top priority. Asked if there was anyone he was “dying to collaborate with”, he replied: “I feel like, at some point, me and Drake need to do something, I feel like that has to happen at some point.”

Asked why it hadn’t happened already, Sheeran continued: “I’ve been on tour for god knows how long and he’s been on tour for god knows how long and he’s constantly releasing stuff. I just think at some point those two worlds have to meet, and I don’t know how or what it sounds like, but I feel like it’s inevitable… I’ve only met him a couple of times. I don’t even know if it’s in the cards. I’d like to think he has the same mindset as me.”

The musician was promoting the new Apple Music documentary ‘Songwriter’, and his long history of writing for the likes of Justin Bieber, One Direction, and Taylor Swift.

None of the massive names he’s worked with appear in the documentary, with the focus on his sessions with producer Benny Blanco, Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, folk singer Foy Vance, and guests such as Julia Michaels.

“I always feel very fucking weird asking people that I know who are famous to do things, because, I don’t know… it feels weird,” Sheeran explained. “The Biebers and the One Direction and the Taylors and the Beyoncés — I want to be seen as an equal, I don’t ever want handouts, so I don’t feel comfortable going, ‘Hey, can you do this?'”

Meanwhile, Sheeran recently joined Don McLean on a performance of his classic song, ‘Vincent’. The pair were both performing at a UCLA Health and Teen Cancer America benefit concert earlier this month (August 18) when they started playing the track together backstage.