Did You Hear That John Mayer Solo On Ed Sheeran’s New Album ‘Divide’?


What’s better than an Ed Sheeran comeback? An Ed Sheeran and John Mayer collaboration, of course!

When Ed Sheeran decided to take a break from social media in 2015, the whole world was devastated. The announcement, made by Ed Sheeran himself on his Instagram account, created quite a buzz, especially since he was then at the top of his career.

Apart from him taking a breather from the crazy that is fame and glory, US Magazine reported back in December 2015 that Ed Sheeran will be spending his hiatus to go back to the UK to recover from ear surgery and then travel the world.

A year after that post, Ed Sheeran is back—and with a new album, to boot! Everyone went gaga as Ed Sheeran came back, as we previously reported, with one new album and two new singles. Entitled “÷”(pronounced “divide”), Ed Sheeran’s new album is a followup to his Grammy-nominated sophomore effort, “x” (pronounced “multiply”), in 2014. In the album is two new singles that have already taken YouTube, Spotify, and the radio by storm: “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill.”

Ed Sheeran accepts the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance for ‘Thinking Out Loud.’ [Image by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]

Talking about his year-long break, Ed Sheeran explains via Yahoo TV.

“I’ve now kind of recharged my batteries and thought about why I was in the music industry and came back with a sort of different view and I don’t really mind, like I’m really grateful that people have a lot of love for the music I make which is nice.

“I’m in the music industry to perform. It took a year of not performing to realize that because I started getting like, pangs of being upset and I was like ‘What am I upset about?’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I haven’t played a show in a year.'”

But what we didn’t know about Ed Sheeran’s new album is that you’ll be able to hear in it one of his beloved co-artists and friends, ET Online reports. In an interview with the online podcast show Zach Sang Show, Ed Sheeran talks about his music, his new album “÷,” and John Mayer’s Easter Egg performance inside the album.

Following Ed Sheeran telling the story about how rap god Eminem confirmed that Kendrick Lamar had no ghostwriter after a plot to test him with an ambush studio recording, Zach then asks Ed how does it work for him and collaborations.

“I usually won’t step into a studio with someone unless I like their stuff but I guess when I’m working with someone…I don’t know! I dont [sic] know when the last time I did it was. I haven’t done it in a while.”

Asked then whether Ed Sheeran worked with anybody on the new album, he continued.

“I got John Mayer on a guitar solo that’s uncredited that’s quite cool. I did a really terrible guitar solo on a song and I was like, ‘I bet John Mayer could do this better.’ So I emailed him and he did it a lot better.”

Ed Sheeran and John Mayer have had a great collaboration history (and chemistry, too, if you ask us!), highlighted in a 2015 Grammys performance of “Thinking Out Loud.”

John Mayer and Ed Sheeran perform onstage during The 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards [Image by Michael Tran/FilmMagic]

If you remember, that stripped-down Grammy performance featured Ed Sheeran’s heart-melting voice and John Mayer’s backup harmonies, plus an undeniably sexy electric guitar solo. John Mayer is a guitar prodigy and for him to add so much more soul and beef to an Ed Sheeran song with a guitar solo like that, it was undeniably a foreshadowing of more John Mayer assists for Ed Sheeran—ergo, “÷.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNjoocJpM8

Also, who can deny the chemistry and harmony between Ed and John after that bromance on The Late Late Show? Giving an electric performance of “Don’t,” this Ed Sheeran-John Mayer collaboration was yet another sight to behold—not to mention, their cute tattoo exchange!

Watch (or rewatch) Ed Sheeran’s superb singing and John Mayer’s crazy guitar solos on The Late Late Show below.

Here’s to a new year, a new Ed Sheeran, and more Ed Sheeran and John Mayer collaborations!

[Featured Image by Amy Harris/Invision/AP Images]

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