Ed Sheeran recalls visiting Arijit Singh's hometown amid 'Sapphire' collab
What's the story
British pop sensation Ed Sheeran recently released his new track Sapphire, featuring Indian music icon Arijit Singh.
The collaboration was initiated after Sheeran heard Singh's voice in the Bollywood film Aashiqui 2 and reached out to him.
In a recent Instagram post, Sheeran shared details of their first meeting and fond memories from his visit to Singh's hometown in West Bengal.
Initial discovery
How Sheeran and Singh met
Sheeran wrote, "I first became aware of @arijitsingh music when I watched Aashiqui 2 and heard Tum Hi Ho. I was proper spellbound by his voice, the song, the scene in the movie."
"I checked him out and got in touch and said whenever you wanna sing together I'm down. He was playing in London, so I went to guest with him and sing 'Perfect' there; it was an incredible show."
Song creation
The story behind the song
During his India tour, Sheeran decided to finish writing their song in person when Singh invited him to his hometown.
"I was with my dad on tour, which is a rarity to get so much one-on-one time with him. Me and him got a flight to Kolkata, then a five-and-a-half-hour drive to his hometown."
"We arrived, went on a barge down the river, which was stunning, then got a scooty back to the studio where we finished the song."
Future plans
Sheeran called Singh 'one of the most talented humans ever'
Sheeran also expressed his gratitude toward Singh for agreeing to collaborate on Sapphire.
He called Singh "one of the most talented humans ever" and said he was "honored to have created in this way with Arijit."
The singer also revealed that a full Punjabi version of their song will be released soon. "The full Punjabi version we recorded will be out in a couple of weeks but until then I'll be drip-feeding fun videos from our time together," he wrote.