Ed Sheeran offered to adopt a pseudonym for his co-writer credit on a Lewis Capaldi song.
For the Someone You Loved singer’s forthcoming sophomore album, he teamed up with Ed to write a piano ballad called Pointless.
In an interview with BBC News, Lewis revealed he was initially sceptical about working with the Shape of You hitmaker because “every British artist who has a number one record seems to have Ed on it”.
He mentioned his concerns to his fellow singer-songwriter and Ed offered to use a pseudonym instead of his own name.
“That’s a testament to how good he is but I was wary of it,” he explained. “My ego was going, ‘I don’t want people thinking Ed wrote my song.’ I actually mentioned that to him and he offered to take up a pseudonym – but at the end of the day, he did help write it so there should be no question.”
Although Ed’s real name remains on the credits, the Scottish star insisted upon changing one of Ed’s lyrics – “She gives me more than everything, I’ll give her my last name” – because he felt it was outdated.
“I was like, ‘Ed, this is 2022. No-one has to take anyone’s second name. I’m not singing that!'” he recalled. “I don’t even think that Ed’s own wife (Cherry Seaborn) has got his last name.”
Pointless will appear on Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent, which is due to be released in May 2023.