Ed Sheeran says reuniting with Taylor Swift feels like 'no time has passed'

Ed Sheeran is offering a closer look at his long-running friendship with Taylor Swift, describing their bond as something that feels “very similar to a sibling.” 

Speaking on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, the 34-year-old musician reflected on how the two first connected and why their creative partnership has always felt natural.

Sheeran recalled meeting “Frank” — understood to be Frank Bell from Swift’s management team — while he was opening for Snow Patrol in Nashville in 2012. 

He said he passed along a simple message: if Swift “ever wants to write a song, I’m around.” He already sensed she was aware of his work, noting she had once performed with “the lyrics to ‘Lego House’ on her hand.”

Their first writing session quickly led to a deeper creative link. “Then we met, and then we wrote, and then I don’t know,” Sheeran said, admitting that despite being “the opposite sex” and coming from different backgrounds, he feels “very intertwined creatively with her.”

Their bond strengthened during his run as an opener on Swift’s Red Tour, where they spent extended time together “as friends and collaborators and performers.”

Host Scott Feinberg also revisited Swift’s 2017 Rolling Stone remark — “He is the James Taylor to my Carole King and I can’t imagine a time when he wouldn’t be” — which Sheeran said he “really agree[s]” with.

Now in their mid-30s, life is busier, but the connection remains effortless. Sheeran said they see each other “from time to time,” and when they do, “You just kind of, like, lock back in and reconnect, it's like no time has passed.”

Back in 2017, he summed up their loyalty simply: “She would be there if everything ended for me… I always stick up for Taylor.”