Long Live

Looking back on the highlights of my life, there’s a moment I’ll never forget from a day in London about two years ago. I was in town to play the O2 and I was out shopping on my day off. My friend Ed Sheeran met up with me in this little shop where I was buying ballet shoes. He walks in and says “you have to hear this new song. I think it’s the best one I’ve ever written.” And then, as usual, he pulls out his phone and gives me headphones. I sat there on a bench in that store and heard ‘Thinking Out Loud’ for the first time, as little kids were picking out tutus and leotards next to us. Little did we know it would go on to be first dance song at countless weddings all over the world, become Ed’s biggest hit, and eventually go on to win him Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammys. Ed and I had been on tour together all year on the Red Tour and we saw each other almost every day. I lived for the moments he would burst into my dressing room with a new song to play me. It happened so often that it became normal, and I don’t think he ever knew how much it meant to me that he wanted me to hear his songs first. I don’t think he ever knew how inspired I was by his drive and passion to constantly create new art. But it’s his 25th birthday today, so I’m saying it now. You deserve everything you have, and everything you will continue to achieve, Ed.