Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift were once the best of friends when he joined her on her Red tour in 2013 and 2014. While they’re still friends today, the “Castle on the Hill” singer revealed how their friendship has changed over the years.
While appearing on the Wednesday, April 9, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Ed, 34, was asked about his favorite memory with Taylor, 35.
“I lived in Nashville and she lived in Nashville and we used to fly to and from the gigs together and do all sorts of, I don’t know,” Ed recalled of their time on tour, in which he was the show’s opening act. “I literally spent almost every single day with her for about six months, so I think that period of time and I do, you know, I see her when I see her.”
Ed said that he and Taylor don’t get to see each other nearly as much as they used to, though they always take advantage of their time together.
“I probably see her like four times a year and we do what I said — like instead of catching up the whole time, we have a proper sit-down, six-hour catchups and I think that’s a really nice way to do it,” he shared. “But I think [of] that period, yeah. 2013.”
Not only have Taylor and Ed toured together, but they have also collaborated. He’s featured on her 2012 song “Everything Has Changed,” as well as her 2017 track “End Game.” He rerecorded “Everything Has Changed” and their previously unreleased duet “Run” for Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021, and he’s expected to also appear on Reputation (Taylor’s Version) once its released.
The “Call Her Daddy” interview is not the first time Ed has opened up about his and Taylor’s friendship. In 2023, the “Shape of You” singer said that she’s “one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at.”
“I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well, because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it,” Ed told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 about the “long” conversations they’ve had together. “That has all the things that you feel and have insecurities about and how other people treat you or how your family treat you, how your friends treat you. She’s basically in the same sphere.”
Meanwhile, Taylor has also been open about their friendship and their collaborative relationship during interviews. “He is the James Taylor to my Carole King and I can’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be,” the “Call It What You Want” singer previously told Rolling Stone.
Additionally, Ed surprised fans when he joined Taylor on her Eras tour at Wembley Stadium in August 2024 to perform a mashup of “Everything Has Changed” and “End Game,” as well as his hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
Following the surprise performance, Taylor took to Instagram to reflect on the special moment. “Ed took me right back to our old Red Tour memories,” she wrote alongside several photos from her shows in London.
