Ed Sheeran was supposed to headline Tempe’s Marquee Theatre in February, but it sold out so quickly the local promoter bumped it to the 4,950-seat Mesa Amphitheatre.

Now, the English singer-songwriter is back in the Valley to open two Taylor Swift concerts at Jobing.com Arena, where the fact that he appears on “Everything Has Changed,” a song he co-wrote with Swift on her new album, “Red,” is sure be a big hit with the audience.

Of course, he also has “The A Team” in his corner. The heartbreaking portrait of a crack-addicted prostitute, “The A Team” gave Sheeran an unlikely U.S. breakthrough when it peaked at No. 16 on the BillboardHot 100. It also earned the 22-year-old a song-of-the-year nomination at the Grammys, where he memorably shared a stage with Elton John, dueting on “The A Team.”

We caught up with Sheeran to talk about “The A Team,” his debut album, “+,” the Swift tour and the co-writing session with Swift, which as it turns out, happened in Phoenix.

Question: You were through town earlier this year on a headlining tour. How does doing these dates with Taylor Swift compare to that experience?

Answer: It’s definitely a new experience, having such a big crowd, finally. So yeah, it’s good. I’m having a lot of fun with it.

Q: Does it feel like a pretty compatible fit to you, playing with her?

A: Um, I guess so. With those huge arena tours, you could really have any sort of an opening act and make it work. But I’m glad I got to do it.

Q: You’re also on her album on a song you co-wrote. How did you hook up?

A: We both kind of reached out to one another at the same time to do some songwriting. And I was on tour myself at the time and she came to Phoenix to come and write.

Q: Wait. She came where?

A: Well, I was gigging with Snow Patrol in Phoenix and she flew in and we wrote a song in our hotel room. That was the first time we met.

Q: How did it feel to be nominated for song of the year at the Grammys?

A: Yeah, that was nice. It was a brilliant thing to happen, and getting to perform as well and be part of that whole thing was excellent. I really enjoyed it.

Q: How big a deal was it to share the stage with Elton John at the Grammys?

A: A pretty big deal, yeah. It really doesn’t get any bigger than that.

Q: You’re a fan, then?

A: Yeah, I think most people grew up with Elton, listening to him.

Q: Who were your biggest inspirations growing up?

A: I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan with my dad. And a lot of Van Morrison. Then, I got into Eminem and Damien Rice and lots of different acts.

Q: What do you think it is about “The A Team” that people are responding to?

A: I’m not sure, man, because it’s not exactly a song that people can relate to. So I don’t know. But people connected to it, which is good.

Q: Do you think there might be a segment of the audience that doesn’t necessarily know what the song is about?

A: I think it definitely starts off like that, but I think once people do a bit of research, watch the video and read interviews, they find out what it’s about.

Q: Did something in particular inspired the writing of that song?

A: Yeah, it was written about a homeless woman I met called Angel in a shelter. I wrote the songs about her.

Q: Have you done much writing since the release of “+”?

A: Yeah. That’s all I have been doing. A lot writing. I’ve been working on the second record for quite awhile now.

Q: You’ve already started recording it?

A: Yeah, I’ve already started recording it. It’s pretty much there.

Q: How do you feel the new material compares with “+”?

A: I have more tools at my fingertips now, so it’s definitely sounding a lot better, but it’s the same kind of songwriting that I’ve been doing.

- AZCentral.com

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As his singles from his debut album, ‘+,’ continue to impact the U.S. charts, Ed Sheeran has finished writing his sophomore album.

“I turned it in today,” he told Billboard while on the Billboard Music Awards’ blue carpet yesterday (May 19).

“It’s early next year,” Sheeran continued to say about the slated release date. “It was going to be this year but I don’t finish touring till October and then there’s no time to get a plan together. I’m going to spend October, November, December planning and then just smash it out next year.”

The singer isn’t pressed on the next steps of the creative process for the songs “are written [and] good” which he says the most important thing. “All the songs are written. I’m going in to record them in August. The direction will take shape then. The songs are good, which is the main thing. I think you can have good songs and then you can put any sort of production behind it but as long as the songs are good,” he said.

Ed Sheeran took the stage at last night’s award show to perform his “+” hit, “Lego House.” The song is climbing its way up the Hot 100 (No. 72 this week).

During rehearsals, Ed Sheeran joked with Billboard that he was attending as Taylor Swift’s plus-one. Sitting front row next to his tour-mate, Ed Sheeran popped up on the telecast several times. Taylor Swift won eight awards.

Source: Billboard

“Don’t expect much from the performance — I don’t have any dancers, or a backing band. But I do have some Christmas lights around my feet, so that’s exciting.”

Ed Sheeran is kidding. You should get excited about his performance of “Lego House” at the Billboard Music Awards tomorrow (May 19), airing live on ABC from Las Vegas.

His performance aside, there’s a chance you might be seeing a lot of the U.K. singer-songwriter during the actual telecast — his tour-mate Taylor Swift is a finalist in a whopping 11 categories, including Top Artist prize.

“I think I’m her plus-one, so it’s going to be quite weird sitting in the front row,” he said.

It’s been a whirlwind year for Sheeran, whose breakout single “The A Team” peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100. When his album “+” debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart last year, it was the highest debut for a British male artist’s first album since 2006.

With “Lego House” climbing its way up the Hot 100 (No. 72 this week) and the Taylor tour going well, Sheeran said he’s seen some definite changes in his life.

“I don’t worry so much,” he admitted. “Which is kind of a bad thing. You get to a point where everyone does everything for you without you having to ask them.”

Source: Billboard

The U.K. singer’s breakout single “The A Team” peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 in 2012. When his album “+” debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart last year, it was the highest debut for a British male artist’s first album since 2006.

Watch the 2013 Billboard Music Awards Sunday, May 19th at 8|7c on ABC live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as host Tracy Morgan welcomes the biggest names in music to the stage.

What song really made an impact on you this year?

Ed Sheeran: The Lumineers’ “Ho Hey” was definitely one of the most impactful songs for me, for good reason. When that song popped, it just changed the whole setting in terms of radio airplay. It was all EDM for a while and then suddenly more bands like that were getting played. It was definitely hard to get “The A Team” on the radio when [it first came out] because radio can only play a certain amount of slower tunes, but “Ho Hey” paved the way for artists like me to get played.

What new talent emerged or came into his or her own this year that blew you away?

An artist called Passenger. He’s an amazing singer/songwriter. I had him on tour with me for a long time and now he’s No. 1 in almost every country around the world, apart from America. He’s going to be coming here soon.

What was your favorite music-related meme or viral video this year?

There was a parody video of someone who did a version of “The A Team” that’s quite funny. “Gangnam Style” is great. I loved how everyone went nuts when it came out.

Was there a surprising sound or music trend that pricked up your ears?

I don’t know what’s happening in America, but definitely in the U.K., more guitar-driven bands are coming back. That’s nice to see. Trap music seems to be getting big at the moment—very minimal beats and slow rap. I was interested to see it get so big commercially.

What are the biggest challenges facing touring artists today?

I think it’s so flooded nowadays with talent, I guess the only challenge is finding different ways to make yourself heard and try different methods. Don’t use the same ways that other artists are trying. The way I got started was instead of playing acoustic shows I played hip-hop, soul, comedy nights. I’d be the only white person there and stand out like a sore thumb, and therefore be more notable. Just try and find a way to stick out. I guess making a record on the road if you are on tour a lot is hard. You just have to find the time.

How do you live like a high roller when you’re in Las Vegas?

I like blackjack, but try to avoid it. I was very lucky the first time I played. I got a $100 chip from my friend and won $3,000, so every time I go back I’m trying to do the same thing.

Source: Billboard

It’s been more than a month since Ed Sheeran triumphed over Thirty Seconds To Mars in MTV’s Musical March Madness tournament, and since then, he’s celebrated his championship on an epic victory tour across North America (a.k.a. “opening for Taylor Swift.”)

But what have we been doing? Why, forging his MMM trophy, of course. And after a month of toiling away in the foundry, on Thursday (May 2), we finally presented Sheeran with his hardware: a 10-pound muscle man, mid-flex, that makes all other championship trophies seem puny by comparison. And, understandably, Ed was pumped to receive it

“This is what I used to look like before I discovered burgers,” he laughed, eyeing the bulging, bronzed pectoral muscles of his trophy. “It’s the biggest award I’ve ever got!”
Of course, he owes his MMM victory to the fanatical support of his Sheerios, who guided him through the tournament, past 63 other acts, and helped shatter records for voting. So, ever the humble champ, he took a moment to thank them for helping him take home the title.

“Even though they’ve given the award to me, I didn’t do all the voting, so thank you for voting and taking up so much of your time; I know it was quite intense, but this is all worth it,” he laughed. “But I’m disappointed you kept his underwear on, he doesn’t look like he’s packing anything.”

We’ll admit, he’s right: our trophy is big all over, just not in the pants (we suspect this is a side-effect of too much bodybuilding). But Sheeran’s not ashamed; if anything, he can’t wait to take his MMM trophy out on tour.

“This is going to come out on the road … I’ll put it on the bus,” he said. “Our bus driver cooks barbecue, and we have a tub of pork belly, but we’ve left it a bit too long, so the fat’s turned white and it’s a bit disgusting, so I’ll stick this by it.”

Who knows, he might even bring the MMM trophy onstage … anything to make his tourmate Taylor jealous.
“I’m sure her seven Grammys are going to look really tiny next to this,” he laughed.

Source: MTV News

Ed Sheeran knows how to command a crowd. The 22-year-old English singer-songwriter’s concerts are carefully engineered exercises in audience participation, with the floppy-haired redhead conducting his fans like an orchestra. He gets them to sing, applaud and stand stone silent on cue with a degree of control worthy of a great world leader.

How is he able to get them to follow his lead so easily?

“I think it’s years of people not listening to me, and me having to find ways to get attention,” says Sheeran, on the phone last week from Indianapolis. Sheeran, who started playing professionally six years ago, says things didn’t start clicking until two years ago. In that time, he developed an impressive stage show and amassed a sizable number of feverish devotees.

“Kids come to gigs to be entertained,” says Sheeran, who was raised in Framlingham, a town in Suffolk, England. “I think the trick is not to shove something down their throat and make them have to do something. You give them options: ‘You sing on this song, you be quiet on this song, you clap on this song, you do whatever you want on this one.’ Give them options, and they kind of follow it rather than forcing something down their throat or getting them to just clap for the whole gig.”

Sheeran was a marvel at his sold-out Fillmore Detroit concert earlier this year. But he will take on a much a much bigger task when he opens for Taylor Swift at Ford Field on Saturday. He is used to singing a cappella at his shows, dropping the microphone and belting to his audience. He started doing it early on as a way of coping with difficulties if his sound system cut out while he was performing. Then he kept it in his set, even as his shows got bigger, to the point where he was even doing it at 12,000-seat arenas during a recent tour in Australia. But he’ll have to leave that trick behind within the gargantuan confines of Ford Field.

“Stadiums are definitely ones you can’t do a cappella,” Sheeran says. “They’re just too big.”

Sheeran is using his time on Swift’s tour to craft his second album, the follow-up to 2011′s “+.” To date, “+” has sold 544,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan; its lead single, “The A-Team,” which was nominated for Song of the Year at this year’s Grammys, has sold 1.8 million digital copies. Sheeran says the new set is “shaping up good.” He’s written and recorded 40 songs for the album, nine of which he’s sure will make the final cut. He’s aiming for 14 songs and eyeing a December deadline, to hopefully have the album out in February 2014.

“It’s such a long tour, and it’s so spread out, that it’s giving me the opportunity to properly put together the second album,” Sheeran says of the Swift tour, which runs through September. “It doesn’t feel like I’m being rushed in the studio. I get another six months on top of what I’ve already written to put together the record, which I think is important.”

The singer, who wears a pair of glow-in-the-dark Kanye West-designed Air Yeezys on stage, turned a lot of heads when he performed a duet with Elton John on this year’s Grammy telecast. It was just another feather in Sheeran’s cap.

“That was a thrilling experience, and it definitely helped open me up to a wider audience in America,” he says. “My dad was very proud that night. It’s one for the archives.”

Taylor Swift with

(313) 262-2000

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Source: Detroit News