Ed Sheeran Predicts You’re Getting a Taylor Swift Album for Christmas

It didn’t happen in September. Not October, as expected. Not even November. And now, in March, it looks like fans could be waiting until the faraway last days of 2017 for the long-anticipated next Taylor Swift album—that is, according to her industry pal Ed Sheeran. The “Shape of You” singer, whose new album Divide comes out Friday, noted that he has smooth sailing for his own music over the next few seasons, with no interruption from the perennially chart-topping Swift to steal his thunder.

In an interview with the BBC, Sheeran offhandedly commented on the ongoing dearth of Swift tunes.

“Taylor [Swift] isn’t going to be releasing until probably the end of this year—Christmas is the smartest time to release because that’s when everyone buys records,” he told the BBC, explaining why he thinks he’ll be able to dominate the music landscape in 2017. “So I’ve got a full year of just all Ed, all the time.”

Swift stepped away from her normal biannual album release cycle in 2016, and has been keeping a relatively low profile for more than half a year. So far in 2017 she’s released the Fifty Shades Darker collaboration “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” with Zayn and played a single show, which she said will be her only one for the year. Thanks, Ed, for giving fans a reason to already be excited for the holiday season.