Ed Sheeran has disclosed that he created some of his biggest songs with Rihanna on his mind.
The 34-year-old crooner made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 26 where he confirmed that he originally wrote his massive hit “Shape of You” for the 37-year-old “Diamonds” singer.
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.”
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.
Watch video below.