Ed Sheeran admits he completely forgot about writing “Cold Water” until it topped the charts

Not many songwriters hold the accolade of writing a number one hit, but it seems that Ed Sheeran has written so many, that sometimes he loses track. It’s no secret that the British singer-songwriter wrote Justin Bieber‘s chart-topping hit ‘Love Yourself‘, admitting that he had originally intended the song to be featured on his upcoming album ‘Divide‘. And whilst the mega-talented Sheeran will undoubtedly have more number 1 hits to come from this upcoming album, the Brit also writes vocals that are intended for other artists. What may not be as well known is the fact that he wrote the original lyrics to Major Lazer‘s massive hit ‘Cold Water’, but had done it during such a busy period of songwriting that he completely forgot about it until he heard it on the radio.

In a recent interview, Sheeran explained how the whole situation arose, admitting he had no idea what song Diplo was referring to when the producer originally asked could he use the vocals:

“‘Cold Water’ was a weird one because I didn’t even know that song existed. It was a song I must’ve half-written somewhere at a time where I was writing a lot of songs and I did it at Benny Blanco’s house and then I got an email from Diplo just being like, ‘Yo! That ‘Cold Water’ song is dope! Can I have it?’ And I was like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ so I just didn’t reply. And then he emailed and was like, “Yo, Justin [Bieber] wants to hop on the ‘Cold Water’ song. Is that cool?’ And I’m just like, ‘What are you talking about?’… And then the song came out and it was number one and I was like ‘Oh, that song!’ I remember doing it, but it was really, really slow. I remember hearing it and being like ‘That kind of sounds like me. Oh wait, it was me.’“

One thing that’s for sure is that Ed Sheeran knows how to write some of the catchiest songs on the radio.