Bono Gave Ed Sheeran Fatherhood Advice

"I'd never really bonded with him like that..."

*Ed Sheeran* has revealed that he bonded with U2 singer *Bono* over fatherhood.

The singer's new single 'Bad Habits' is out now, previewed with an intimate performance for the England football squad this week.

Chatting to Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe for New Music Daily, Ed Sheeran discussed his new single, and becoming a father.

'Bad Habits' was constructed alongside Fred Again... who is noted for his work with Stormzy and Headie One.

Ed Sheeran explains...

What I loved about it is Fred's approach to the vocals. It's barely a whisper. No, Fred's approach is basically just a whisper on the mic. He just said like, you'll have this massive bassy chugging and you have this tiny vocal that you've made huge. Man, it works out. So, the process of actually deciding it was going to go on the album was I had the first single chosen and we were coming in June. When life is getting back to normal and you can put out this song and I want it to just lift. 

Ed Sheeran became a father recently, and in his attempt to navigate this new realm he reached out to a surprising source - Bono.

The U2 frontman was "the sweetest guy" during a three hour pep talk, which prompted a "deep dive of U2 on vinyl" by Ed Sheeran.

He comments...

When I found out Cherry was pregnant, I was like, "How do I navigate this into my career?" And I'd just watched Rattle and Hum, the YouTube doc and basically… Well, no, this is the thing. U2 played stadiums on their third record or whatever. And Bono was 28 and he finished his live tour at 29 and then had his first child and then went on to be... That was their first stadium and then they went on to have like a 30 year career of still playing stadiums. And I was like, this is the one guy I feel like...I could relate to.

So I got in touch, then we had like a three hour chat and he is the sweetest guy. And we were just having... And I'd never really bonded with him like that. And I don't think I probably ever would have done, but there was just this... I don't know what made him take the call, but we're sort of having this chat and he was telling me about how he navigated being a father, like where his kids went to school and how they did tours and stuff like that. And I was just kind of taking it all in and he hung up the phone and we'd sort of ended our chat.

And then I went through a deep dive of U2 on vinyl. So I bought all their records. I'd heard their records, but I'd never... It's different sitting down with headphones, closed eyes.

Check out 'Bad Habits' below.

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