--- description: The "Sing" songster talks to TIME title: Ed Sheeran: "Taylor Swift is a middle-aged woman trapped in a 24-year-old's body" image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc21a9a60e5989194/6986987c169ab0858e279fea/sheeran.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Ed Sheeran: "Taylor Swift is a middle-aged woman trapped in a 24-year-old's body"  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 20, 2014 10:00 AM CUT  Ed Sheeran onstage on June 17, 2014 in Burbank, Calif. Ed Sheeran onstage on June 17, 2014 in Burbank, Calif.Kevin Winter / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 20, 2014 10:00 AM CUT When Ed Sheeran talked to TIME for this week’s issue, the full conversation ranged from his go-to karaoke song (“Pony” by Ginuwine) and what will happen to his puppet alter ego for his “Sing” video (it will be used again, and then he’ll eventually keep it at home in a display box), to dealing with a break up (writing a song beats crying at home) and worrying that his album will leak (if it happened to Kanye, it could happen to anyone). And, of course, [the infamous Drake-lyric needlepoint](http://time.com/2852098/taylor-swift-ed-sheeran-drake-needlepoint/ "undefined"). The “started from the bottom” stitch sampler was created by none other than Taylor Swift, and was shown to the public in the Sheeran-centric MTV doc _9 Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran,_ which premiered June 10\. It caused some Internet swooning among fans, but Sheeran tells TIME, there weren’t any other crafts exchanged: --- > “” --- Sheeran’s new album, _x_,drops June 23. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2902716/ed-sheeran-taylor-swift-is-a-middle-aged-woman-trapped-in-a-24-year-olds-body/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2902716/ed-sheeran-taylor-swift-is-a-middle-aged-woman-trapped-in-a-24-year-olds-body/"},"headline":"Ed Sheeran: \"Taylor Swift is a middle-aged woman trapped in a 24-year-old's body\"","datePublished":"2014-06-20T10:00:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:31:49.897Z","description":"The \"Sing\" songster talks to TIME","url":"https://time.com/2902716/ed-sheeran-taylor-swift-is-a-middle-aged-woman-trapped-in-a-24-year-olds-body/","keywords":["celebrities","Music","Q&A","Pop Culture","Taylor Swift","ed sheeran"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc21a9a60e5989194/6986987c169ab0858e279fea/sheeran.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc21a9a60e5989194/6986987c169ab0858e279fea/sheeran.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ed Sheeran","caption":"Ed Sheeran","creditText":"Kevin Winter / 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":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2902716/ed-sheeran-taylor-swift-is-a-middle-aged-woman-trapped-in-a-24-year-olds-body/","name":"Ed Sheeran: \"Taylor Swift is a middle-aged woman trapped in a 24-year-old's body\""}}]}] ```