Ed Sheeran created some of his biggest songs with Rihanna on his mind.
The 34-year-old crooner confirmed that he originally wrote his massive hit “Shape of You” for the 37-year-old “Diamonds” singer during a March 26 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Justin Bieber’s chart-topping “Love Yourself” — which Sheeran crafted alongside Benny Blanco — was another song that he envisioned for Rihanna.
“Rihanna has the best taste out of anyone,” he explained to host Jimmy Fallon. “She always picks just really, really great songs. So as songwriters within the songwriting community, you’re always writing songs to pitch to Rihanna.”
Rihanna poses on the red carpet in December 2024.
Cindy Ord/WireImage
He continued, “Like every single album that I’ve ever done, I’ve always gone to write, on the side, ‘Let’s try and write a song that we can pitch to Rihanna.’ “
Released in 2017, “Shape of You” became one of the most successful songs of the year. It has amassed more than 4.2 billion streams on Spotify alone.
Sheeran told Fallon that the song “didn’t really feel like it suited” him. However, his perception changed after he made a few adjustments. Even then he had to get his “head around it…because I very much wrote it with someone else in mind.”
Fallon remarked that mom of two Rihanna is “like your muse,” which Sheeran agreed with and noted that he wasn’t alone in being inspired by her artistry.
“I promise you, there’ll be so many songwriters out there [whose] best song came from trying to write a Rihanna song,” he said.
Ed Sheeran onstage in May 2024.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Artists might be writing songs with Rihanna on their mind, but the Grammy winner hasn’t actually released an album since 2016’s Anti.
However, she promised that a new album, her ninth, is in the works and assured fans it would be worth the wait during a February 2025 interview with Harper’s Bazaar.
“I cannot put up anything mediocre,” she told the outlet. “After waiting eight years, you might as well just wait some more.”
Rihanna explained that she had been working on new music since Anti arrived, but nothing had felt right.
“I’ve been in the studio the whole eight years. But it didn’t hit me,” she said.
