Sing

The first single from Ed Sheeran's x album, this was premiered on Zane Lowe's show on BBC Radio 1 on April 7, 2014. "The reason I chose this song to be the first single is, I think if I put out an acoustic ballad first, everyone would be like 'ehh, it's alright,'" Sheeran told Lowe. "But with this, you get people who are either going to love it or going to hate it, but at least they're going to be talking about it."

This features Pharrell Williams, who also co-produced the song with Sheeran. It was the first time the English singer-songwriter had worked with a pre-existing track. However, it almost didn't happen. Williams recalled to Billboard magazine that when he played Sheeran a demo, "He was like, 'Nah, I love it, but it's not for me.' And I said, 'Just give me a shot. Pick up your guitar and strum along with it for a little bit, and see what happens.'" "So after figuring out the chords that I had laid down," he continued, "in between jokes and people coming in with coffee, he kept playing it, and he looked up at me, like, 'S--t, is this really happening?' as I'm looking at him with an 'I told you so' smile."

The song owes a lot to Justin Timberlake. "It was pretty close to a direct inspiration," Sheeran told Billboard. "I love Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds, so I took inspiration from those."