Taylor Swift’s latest audience was in for a treat as Ed Sheeran joined her on stage.
The Shake It Off singer was at London’s Wembley Stadium with her Eras tour when Sheeran put in an appearance. While some fans may have been surprised to see the singer, Swifties know that he and the pop superstar are good friends.
They grew close early in their music careers and the relationship has lasted as their stars have risen, with the pair collaborating, publicly supporting each other and sharing special occasions.
We have a look inside their sweet friendship.
What happened at Wembley?
Swift’s massive Eras tour is taking her all over the globe, but Sheeran picked London to make his surprise appearance. The crowd of 92,000 people at Wembley roared with excitement as Swift welcomed him on stage.
The duo performed a mash-up of their earlier duets, Everything Has Changed and End Game, before giving a rendition of Sheeran’s massive hit Thinking Out Loud.
Swift told the audience how thrilled she was to be welcoming Sheeran to the stage, saying: “This is one of my best friends in the world. He works so hard, he’s on tour right now and he’s probably so tired but he wanted to come and play for you.”
Collaborations
Swift and Sheeran’s friendship started over a decade ago when they teamed up on the 2012 track Everything Has Changed. It reached the Top 10 in the UK and also scooped a raft of accolades, including a BMI Award and a Radio Disney Music Award, and later that year the A-listers performed it together at the Jingle Ball in New York.
It seems Swift made a good impression on Sheeran, as he later told Pop Crush: “It’s such a pleasure to have people like her in the music industry – she has the talent and is so down to Earth, head and shoulders.”
The collaboration went down so well that the stars did it again in 2017, this time on Swift’s End Game, and then again in 2021 on Run.
Two years ago Swift lent her vocals to Sheeran’s The Joker And The Queen, with the pair performing a duet that fans adored.
Long conversations
Sheeran has previously shared that he and Swift enjoy long chats that he has said are “kind of therapy” in that they really get each other.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 last year, he explained: “I have long, long, long conversations with Taylor about stuff just because I feel like she’s one of the only people that actually truly understands where I’m at.”
He went on: “I had an hour 20 conversation with her yesterday and we were just – everything that was on our minds we talked about. I mean that in itself is kind of therapy as well, because you’re actually talking to someone that genuinely gets it.”
On the road
When Swift hit the road on her Red tour in 2013, she knew just who she wanted as her opening act. Sheeran was the support act for the North American leg of the tour, and has told how it made him a fan of a whole different style of music.
He once told Billboard in an interview: “I’d never really listened to country music as a kid growing up. It was only being on Taylor’s Red tour and living in Nashville and her basically introducing me to that side of it.”
Exercise buddies
Swift and Sheeran’s friendship isn’t confined to the studio and the stage, as the pair are exercise buddies too. A few years ago a video showed the stars on a hike together, with Swift teasing Sheeran about struggling to keep up with her.
“You OK bro?” she asked, as he trailed behind her. As they continued up a hill, she asked the Shape Of You singer: “It’s called exercise, have you ever done cardio?”
Sheeran insisted that he had done so “now and then” and Swift quipped: “Strumming a guitar doesn’t count!”
In the past they have also been spotted paddleboarding together with their families.
Brit Awards shout out
Swift declared her love for her friend in 2015 when she was a winner at the Brits, naming him in her acceptance speech.
Clutching her best international solo female trophy, she said: “Honestly, I know I wouldn’t be up here if it wasn’t for one of my best friends, who took me to pubs and taught me how to make a good cup of tea and taught me everything I know about the UK. I just want to say I love you, Ed Sheeran.”
Grammys tribute
In 2016, Swift jumped up to congratulate Sheeran after he won the Song of the Year category at the Grammys, his first time winning one of the coveted gongs. The star looked ecstatic as Sheeran clinched the prize for Thinking Out Loud, clapping her hands to her face.
She later shared how proud she was of her friend in a moving Instagram post. “I was in town to play the O2 and I was out shopping on my day off,” she wrote.
“My friend Ed Sheeran met up with me in this little shop where I was buying ballet shoes. He walks in and says, ‘You have to hear this new song. I think it’s the best one I’ve ever written.’
“And then, as usual, he pulls out his phone and gives me headphones. I sat there on a bench in that store and heard Thinking Out Loud for the first time, as little kids were picking out tutus and leotards next to us.
“Little did we know it would go on to be first dance song at countless weddings all over the world, become Ed’s biggest hit, and eventually go on to win him Song of the Year at the 2016 Grammys.”
