Westlife are yet to meet Ed Sheeran after he co-wrote their comeback single ‘Hello My Love’.
The Irish band will release the lead single from their first album in almost eight years, which was penned by the ‘Shape of You’ hitmaker and songwriter-and-producer Steve Mac, on January 11, but Shane Filan says they still haven’t had a chance to all come face-to-face with the 27-year-old superstar, though they are hoping he’ll join them on stage for their forthcoming 20th anniversary tour.
Shane told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: "He can come any night he wants and sing ‘Flying Without Wings’ with us, or something. We haven’t all met him yet as a band, but I’m sure we will meet at some stage."
Mark Feehily – who completes the ‘If I Let You Go’ hitmakers along with Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan – revealed he had spotted Ed when he was starting out in the early 2000s and sent him a message of support on Twitter, and he thinks it’s "f***ing cool" that it’s come full circle now that the ‘Perfect’ hitmaker has penned their comeback single.
He said: "He was like, ‘You tweeted about me – that’s so f***ing cool.’ Finally he’s paying me back for the tweet.
"It’s just nice that it has finally come all the way around with him working with us – and it just so happens he’s the biggest star in the world right now."
Producer Steve previously shared that the band have returned to their signature sound on their follow-up to 2010’s ‘Gravity’.
The 46-year-old songwriter has penned several songs for the record and was one of the key players in their reunion following their split in 2012.
Steve insists fans should be excited about the new music as it will contain all the hallmarks of their past hits such as big "key changes" and "gospel choirs".
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "There’s a few songs at the moment. We’re not sure how many will end up on the album. It just was fantastic getting back with them and having that first meeting … I wanted to get back in there and all the feelings came back and the key changes come out and the gospel choirs … it’s gonna be great!"
Westlife recently added more dates to their 20th anniversary comeback tour after tickets sold out in less than 10 minutes.
Westlife haven’t met Ed Sheeran after he penned their new single
