Ed Sheeran revealed that he filmed all of his songwriting sessions, after winning a bitter Supreme Court battle over the Shape of You.
The Suffolk singer, 31, said he filmed all songwriting sessions to protect against future plagiarism allegations.
In a preview of tonight’s Newsnight interview, Sheeran spoke about a previous claim made in 2017 in the US about his music video.
The artist said that he “personally” regretted settling the picture, saying that he had not played the song for a long time.
Ed Sheeran has said that his songwriting has changed after his first claim of plagiarism in 2015, and he often finds that he is “guessing” himself
“I just stopped playing,” he said. “I felt weird about it, it just made me feel kind of sloppy.”
Sheeran added: ‘Now I’m just shooting everything, everything being depicted in the movie.
We’ve had claims about the songs and we go, well, here’s the picks and you see. You will see that there is nothing there.
He said that songwriting in the studio had changed since the first allegations of plagiarism, and he was often found to be “guessing” himself.
He said: ‘There is a point where George Harrison said he was afraid to touch the piano because he might be touching someone else’s note. There is definitely a feeling for this in the studio.
Personally, I think the best feeling in the world is ecstasy about the first idea of writing a great song.
The singer-songwriter, filmed yesterday in London, is now recording his sessions so that the video can be played – in case there is an allegation of plagiarism
“That feeling has now turned into ‘Oh wait, let’s back out for a minute.'” You find yourself in this moment, second you guess yourself.
In 2018, Sheeran, along with Snow Patrol’s John McDade and producer Stephen McCutchen, were accused of copying the 2015 song Oh Why composed by Sami Shoukry and Ross O’Donoghue.
On Wednesday, they won their 11-day Supreme Court battle, with a judge concluding that Sheeran copied a phrase from the 2015 song when he wrote his first song “Neither on purpose nor unconsciously.”
The 2017 song is the most streamed track on Spotify with 3091 million plays.
After his victory, Sheeran told BBC Newsnight that the issue was about “honesty” and not money.
He said he’s ‘happy it’s over, I’m glad we can move on, get back to songwriting’ but the episode made him ‘sad’ and changed his way of seeing songwriting.
McDaid, who was seated next to him, spoke of the toll the case had taken on their mental health.
“Last year,” he said, ”it got very heavy and was consuming a lot. The cost to our mental health and creativity was really tangible.
Sami Shoukry (left) and Ross O’Donoghue (right) arrive at Rolls’ building in central London, where Ed Sheeran has filed a lawsuit over his 2017 hit song Shape of You after the duo claimed the song violated parts of one of their tracks.
Sheeran and his colleagues originally began legal proceedings in May 2018, asking the Supreme Court to declare that they had not infringed Shukri and O’Donoghue’s copyrights.
Two months later, Shukri—a sinister artist who performs under the name Sami Switch—and O’Donoghue issued their own “copyright infringement, damages and profit expense claim in connection with the alleged infringement”.
The couple claimed that the hook of ‘Oh I’ in Shape Of You is ‘remarkably similar’ to ‘Oh why’ abstaining in their path.
All three Shape Of You co-authors denied the copying allegations and said they didn’t remember hearing Oh Why accepted the legal dispute.
During last month’s trial at the Rolls Building in London, Sheeran denied that he was “borrowing” ideas from unknown songwriters without acknowledgment and insisted he had “always tried to be completely fair” in appreciating the people who contribute to his albums.
Shukri told the trial that he felt “robbed” by Sheeran and “shocked” when he first heard Shape Of You on the radio.
Andrew Sutcliffe QC, attorney for Oh Why, has claimed that Sheeran is an artist who “changes” the words and music of others to be “original.”
Ian Mel QC, on behalf of Sheeran, McDade and McCutcheon, said the allegations against them are “impossible to bear”, as evidence suggests Shape Of You is an “independent creation”.
Sheeran was present throughout the trial and would often explode in songs and rave about the scales and melodies when he came to the witness stand.
His full interview will be shown on Newsnight at 10:30pm this evening on BBC Two.
