Ed Sheeran believes songwriting is "a form of therapy".
The 26-year-old singer and songwriter has admitted whenever he feels "down" the "one thing" that instantly picks him up and leaves him feeling more upbeat is when he puts pen to paper and writes a song, because he likes the fact he has produced something positive out of a "bad experience".
Speaking about how he copes when he is feeling low in a teaser clip of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Desert Island Discs’, the flame-haired musician said: "I think it [songwriting] is a form of therapy to be honest.
"I think any time I’ve ever got down or ever felt low the one thing that picks me up from that is writing a song about it because at least you’ve got a positive experience out of a bad experience."
The ‘Castle On The Hill’ hitmaker – who enjoyed a one-year hiatus before returning to the music industry in January 2017 – has revealed he will jot down lyrics "as much as possible", and often it turns out that a very small percentage of the songs he has created are "good", whilst the others he deems as not worthy he will "scrap".
He explained: "I try to write as much as possible.
"And you know 12 out of 100 might be good. So I write a bunch and scrap a bunch."
And Ed, who released his comeback album ‘Divide’ earlier this year, has revealed when he is creating a new album he will be writing "four or five songs a day", although he will have "no thought process" and will simply experiment with melodies on his guitar.
Ed – who is currently dating Cherry Seaborn – said: "If I’m in album-making mode it will be four or five songs a day and there will be no thought process. It will be just get a guitar and just write a song."
‘Desert Island Discs’ with Ed Sheeran will air on Radio 4 on Sunday (07.05.17) at 11.15am.
Ed Sheeran likens songwriting to therapy
