Ed Sheeran has revealed in a new interview that he confides in Taylor Swift, with the two artists finding common ground and understanding each other more than people realise.

• READ MORE: Ed Sheeran – ‘-‘ review: his troubled times laid bare

Speaking to Apple Music 1‘s Zane Lowe to promote his newly launched album ‘-‘ (pronounced ‘subtract’), Sheeran revealed that he confides in Taylor Swift, saying: “I have long, long, long conversations with Taylor about stuff just because I feel like she’s one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at”.

“I had an hour-20 conversation with her yesterday and we were just — everything that was on our minds we talked about. I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well, because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it,” he continued. “That has all the things that you feel and have insecurities about and how other people treat you or how your family treat you, how your friends treat you. She’s basically in the same sphere.”

He added: “I have a similar sort of friendship with Stormzy, where I know what he’s going through and we can talk about it. His friends would be like my friends, where they say the same things.”

During the interview, Sheeran also spoke about working with Aaron Dessner on ‘-‘ at the recommendation of Swift. “I’m always, not guarded, but I kind of would keep my distance if there would be a collaborator that she’d be working with closely just because that’s her thing,” Sheeran explained. “And I don’t want to be like, ‘Well going to do that too.”

“But she said, ‘I think it’d be really important for you as an artist to do what I did and work with Aaron because this is what it did for me,” he continued. “So that sort of opened the door to it, and I am incredibly grateful. I’m making some of the most meaningful music to me that I’ve made in a very long time.”

Watch Ed Sheeran’s full interview with Zane Lowe, in which he extensively talks about his relationship with the late Jamal Edwards, who died in February last year, working through his grief, the new record and more.

Ed Sheeran’s ‘-‘ is out today, and has received a three-star review from NME‘s Nick Levine, who wrote: “Most of ‘-’ is doggedly one-paced, an often drawback of Dessner’s mellow production stylings. If it becomes a little samey in places, it could be argued that this is an authentic representation of the mental health issues Sheeran was working through at the time. Certainly, some of his lyrical refrains – breaking waves, falling tears – add to the impression that ‘-‘ is an unfiltered snapshot of this artist’s mindset at an especially low ebb.”

Ed Sheeran most recently won his plagiarism case, in which his hit song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ was accused of copying Marvin Gaye‘s ‘Let’s Get It On’. The accusations alleged that Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge copied the rhythm of the 1973 song, as well as an ascending four-chord sequence. The case also referenced “striking similarities” between the two tracks that violate the copyright.

Earlier this week, Sheeran reportedly took to the stand in Manhattan to insist he would be “done” with music if found guilty. The singer-songwriter has now been found not liable for copyright infringement, with jurors ruling that he “independently” created the song.

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