Ed Sheeran worried his wife would think ‘Perfect’ was “cheesy”.
The 32-year-old singer wrote his huge 2017 single just two months into his relationship with Cherry Seaborn – who he married in 2019 and went on to have two daughters with -and he admitted he felt “uncomfortable” putting so much of himself into the song, but believes that’s why people “connected” with the track.
He told America’s GQ Hype magazine: “I think that any song that people connect with has to feel uncomfortable while you’re writing it.
“When I was writing ‘Perfect’ I thought, ‘This is really cheesy, Cherry is gonna think that I’m like the cheesiest f****** boyfriend’.
“And you know, when I was writing ‘Salt Water,’ which is all about imagining your own suicide, I was like, F***, I don’t want to put this out and have my parents listen to this.”
While Ed finds it helpful to pour his feelings into his songs, he admitted he doesn’t always need to make them public.
Speaking on his track ‘The Man’ from 2014’s ‘x’ album, he said: “It felt super uncomfortable at the time, writing it, and everyone I played it to reacted in an uncomfortable way, which I thought was a good thing, and I put it out.
“The album probably didn’t need that song. I probably needed to write it, but I didn’t need to release it.”
The ‘Castle on the Hill’ hitmaker thinks his songs strike a chord with fans because of their familiar themes.
He said: “I think everyone loves love, and everyone feels low, and I feel like those are the two subjects that I’ve written most about.”
Ed believes ‘Perfect’ is the track he will be most remembered for in the years to come.
He explained: “‘’Perfect’ is the one where, whenever I play it at a concert, you see the stadium change, and everyone suddenly starts hugging the person next to them.”