Ed Sheeran, who features on the soundtrack for the upcoming F1 movie, took to the red carpet in London for the European premiere of the Brad Pitt-led film.
The Grammy Award-winning artist described what it was like to write a song about a character rather than his own experiences while also revealing why he chose to be a part of the F1 soundtrack over the many other offers he typically receives.
“Feeling good, yeah. Really excited to see it again, but I only saw it on a tiny screen, so I’m excited to see it on a proper screen,” he explained to red carpet interviewer Clara Amfo.
“Yeah, I think the kind of brief of it was: write it about his journey and life. So the song’s less obviously about me, and it’s more about the movie and the story and where he’s at, basically.”
Sheeran confirmed that part of what persuaded him to say yes to the opportunity was that the offer came through while he was in the studio with Blake Slatkin, with whom he wrote the song alongside John Mayer. The track, Drive, features Mayer on guitar, Dave Grohl on the drums, Pino Palladino on bass, and Rami Jaffee on keyboards.
“I’d say every year I get asked to do a song for a film,” the 34-year-old continued. “But I think it was the timing that I was asked. I was in the studio at the time with Blake, who I made the tune with – with John – and we just were like, ‘Shall we try something?’ And then it worked. So it was more the time we were asked. All the things lined up, basically.”
Sheeran’s song Drive was released on 20 June. “The song fell out of us. [Mayer] just whacked an octave pedal on and went wild,” Sheeran explained to Billboard as part of the release. “Movies are my hobby and probably the only thing other than sport that I get, like, starstruck to be part of. Not just directors or actors or whatever, but being a part of the journey of a movie is so exciting for me.”
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