Ed Sheeran reveals ‘Play’ song ‘Camera’ was almost “a duet with Justin Bieber”

Ed Sheeran has shared that his song ‘Camera’ was almost a duet with Justin Bieber.

The song was recently shared as part of Sheeran’s latest album, ‘Play’, which arrived on September 12. It immediately became a favourite amongst fans, although the singer has now revealed that he once planned to share it as a collab with Bieber.

He opened up about the origins of the song in a new interview with SiriusXM, and said that he was so certain of it being a song with the ‘Stay’ singer, that the two of them even hit the studio together and recorded a full version of it.

“I wrote it for ‘=’ and then it ended up being a duet with Justin Bieber for ‘Justice’, and then it never materialised,” Sheeran said, referring to both his fifth album and Bieber’s sixth album, both of which were released in 2021. “I’ve got a version with Justin on it. It’s pretty cool, but it just exists in the ether. Now it’s out. I think people like it.”

If the song had been released as a full blown collaboration with Justin Bieber, it would have marked their third time working together on music. Previously, they joined forces for a duet called ‘I Don’t Care’ back in 2019, and then worked together co-writing the hit 2015 song ‘Love Yourself’. The latter was released as part of Bieber’s ‘Purpose’ album.

The recent interview on SiriusXM also saw the singer-songwriter explain the inspiration for the song, and share how it was written about the best memories he has which were not caught on camera.

“When I was 11, I remember playing my first show and thinking that I was rocking out to 40,000 people and it was amazing,” Sheeran said (via Rolling Stone). “Had someone filmed that on a camera phone, it takes the magic away.”

“I remember my proposal to my wife in a very specific way,” he added. “It might have actually been completely different if someone had filmed it. I do think that cameras and videoing things sometimes take the magic away.”

The ‘Play’ album follows 2023’s ‘Autumn Variations’, and features the singles ‘A Little More’, ‘Azizam’, ‘Old Phone’ and ‘Sapphire’.

Sheeran has already spoken about his vision for his next four LPs: ‘Pause’, ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Rewind’ and ‘Stop’, and recently revealed that he has plans for a posthumous album called ‘Eject’.

Sheeran also shared that he “made ‘Play’ and ‘Rewind’ at the same time”, adding that the latter was almost ready to go. “It’s two months off being totally locked and loaded,” he said.

As for when fans could expect his next record to arrive, Sheeran said: “I guess at some point in the next 18 months it will come out.”

In a three-star review of ‘Play’, NME called the project “a hasty retreat to the genre-spanning of old”. It added: “‘Play’, which apparently kicks off a groan-inducing new series of albums named after buttons on a remote control, just about makes the most of his bag of tricks.”

The musician has announced a UK and European arena tour for this winter – including shows in Manchester and Dublin. Visit here for tickets.

As for Bieber, the singer is scheduled to top the bill at Coachella next April, alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G. It will mark Bieber’s first solo slots at the festival, following past guest appearances with Ariana Grande, WizKid and Daniel Caesar.

He surprise-released ‘Swag’ – the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Justice’ – in July, before sharing the sequel ‘Swag II’ earlier this month. In a three-star review of the latter, NME wrote: “It’s frustrating because there’s plenty of great material scattered across these two parts, which would be far stronger as a single, shorter release.