Anne-Marie on biggest lesson Ed Sheeran taught her: “I learned not to be scared, but to be seen”

Bella Howard

Anne-Marie co-wrote her single “2002” with Ed Sheeran, and on her new album, Therapy, she’s teamed with him again on the song “Beautiful.” The British singer says not only did she get some great songs out of her friendship with Ed, but she also learned a valuable lesson.

Speaking to Music Week, Anne-Marie recalls the first time she and Ed got together to co-write.  She remembers thinking, “If we get in the session and he thinks I’m crap, is he not going to be my friend?” But, she says, “How he was in the session was amazing to me, because he’s very much open to being crap. And I think that’s what I really am bad at.”

“For example, I would probably go through about 10 sentences in my head before I feel confident to see if one is O.K. with everyone in the room,” explains the “FRIENDS” singer. “Whereas he was just like, ‘What about this? What about this?’ and saying the first thing that came into his head.”

“He wasn’t scared to look like something was not good enough,” she notes. “I learned not to be scared but to be seen.”

In addition to getting help from Ed on Therapy, Anne-Marie also got help from, well, actual therapy.

“It changed my life,” she admits. “I can’t tell you how different I am just even speaking to you now. I feel different. I would have been, like, full of anxiety before…I was scared and terrified about people staring at me.”

Anne-Marie, whose latest hit is “Our Song,” with Niall Horan, will promote her new album with a livestream called Therapy: The Live Experience, on August 7. Tickets for the stream are on sale now.

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