--- title: Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift Were Never Popular Interview description: "Shape of You" singer Sheeran dishes about what drives him and his good friend Swift to become the biggest artists in the world. canonical: https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-27T20:36:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:33.701Z og:title: Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift Were Never the 'Popular Kids' og:description: The 'Shape of You' singer explains what drives both stars to make their hits. og:url: https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta38d0d0612524801/6988b7a1cd1bba38aa703c5e/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2624 og:image:height: 1476 og:image:alt: The 58th GRAMMY Awards - Backstage And Audience og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift Were Never the 'Popular Kids' twitter:description: The 'Shape of You' singer explains what drives both stars to make their hits. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta38d0d0612524801/6988b7a1cd1bba38aa703c5e/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ed Sheeran on Taylor Swift: They Both Want Success Because They Weren't the 'Popular Kids' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ad957691-2688-4b1a-ae03-eddd082298b6&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 27, 2017 8:36 PM UTC  Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift attends The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift attends The 58th GRAMMY Awards at Staples Center on February 15, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jan 27, 2017 8:36 PM UTC Ed Sheeran is riding high on the successful [release of his first two singles](http://time.com/4620753/ed-sheeran-teases-music/?iid=sr-link1) off of upcoming album _Divide_—but he wasn’t born a widely liked “hit” as a person. On the contrary, in a new [interview with British _GQ_](http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/ed-sheeran-new-album-divide), the fire-haired singer-songwriter explained what drives him: unpopularity. And Sheeran says that’s also what has made fellow music juggernaut Taylor Swift eager to get to the top, too. “There’s an underdog element to it. Taylor \[Swift\] was never the popular kid in school. I was never the popular kid in school. Then you get to the point when you become the most popular kid in school – and we both take it a bit too far,” he explained. Sheeran is [a known Swift squad member](http://time.com/3845231/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran-texts-instagram/?iid=sr-link1); she even recently helped promote his new music. “She wants to be the biggest female artist in the world and I want to be the biggest male artist in the world,” he told the magazine of their equally strong ambitions. “It also comes from always being told that you can’t do something and being like, ‘F–k you. I can.’” They certainly seem to be achieving their popularity dreams this year, with Swift’s [new music video](http://time.com/4648633/taylor-swift-zayn-50-shades-video/?iid=sr-link1) raking up the views and Sheeran’s songs sitting pretty on [top of charts.](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/7669903/three-weeks-in-a-row-for-ed-sheeran-on-uk-songs-chart-as-pete) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/"},"headline":"Ed Sheeran on Taylor Swift: They Both Want Success Because They Weren't the 'Popular Kids'","datePublished":"2017-01-27T20:36:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:33.701Z","description":"Sheeran and Swift turned underdog status into drive","url":"https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta38d0d0612524801/6988b7a1cd1bba38aa703c5e/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta38d0d0612524801/6988b7a1cd1bba38aa703c5e/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 58th GRAMMY Awards - Backstage And Audience","caption":"The 58th GRAMMY Awards - Backstage And Audience","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4652109/ed-sheeran-on-taylor-swift/","name":"Ed Sheeran on Taylor Swift: They Both Want Success Because They Weren't the 'Popular Kids'"}}]}] ```