Ed Sheeran doesn’t think he has the back catalogue to play the Super Bowl halftime show.
The 34-year-old star – whose albums have all topped the charts in the UK and never landed below fifth in the US – isn’t sure hits like ‘Shape of You’, ‘The A-Team’ and ‘Bad Habits’ are enough to land him the coveted spot.
He told the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast: “There was a conversation about 10 years ago to go on with someone, and I think that’d be the only way that I would do it at the moment.
“I don’t think English artists are like — I mean, there are some that have the pizzazz of Super Bowl, fireworks, dancers, blah, blah, blah — but me going up there and being like, here’s ‘The A Team’ and here’s ‘Perfect,’ no one wants to see that.”
He added: “The catalogue that I have doesn’t really lend itself.”
Ed suggested the best way to get him involved would be if he joined another artist on stage.
He added: “Whereas, if there was a show with a lot of that, say like if it was Beyoncé’s show and she had all the bells and whistles and then there was a moment where we sung ‘Perfect’ together, that makes sense to me.
“But me, I don’t know. I can’t picture myself doing it. Can you picture me doing it?”
The ‘Azizam’ singer songwriter also pointed to the way his live shows are structured, and insisted it doesn’t “really lend itself” to a performance like the Super Bowl.
He said: “Have you seen me play as well? Because it’s with a loop pedal and you have to build the things.
“Doesn’t really lend itself to the Super Bowl. ‘Hey, hang on guys. I’ve just gotta set this up for two minutes.’ ”
Ed has the star power to play the Super Bowl, but there was a time when ‘The One And Only’ hitmaker Chesney Hawkes rejected an offer to collaborate.
Chesney told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “I’d do sessions for [Jake] and we’d be trying to get a song for someone like Kylie Minogue.
“He told me about this kid, Ed Sheeran, who was sleeping on his couch. Jake said, ‘Come and do a session.’ I said: ‘Ed who? I’m working with A1 now,’ like I was Mr. Big B*******.”