It's only been a couple of weeks since Ed Sheeran dropped his latest song, a collaboration with Justin Bieber, 'I Don't Care', but it's now emerged that he really wanted to re-record the classic song 'Lady Marmalade' with an all-male line-up! Ed revealed that he wanted the song for his album, 'No.6 Collaborations Project', which he announced recently and, as the title suggests will be full of his collabs.
Speaking to American TV presenter Charlamagne Tha God, Ed explained, "This project actually started with one idea I had which was – you remember 'Lady Marmalade' right? This is such a silly idea – I had an idea of doing that, like you could get Bruno [Mars], [Justin] Bieber and me on a record, how fun would that be?"
He continued, "The first person I rung was Bruno and he was just like, 'Let's just do a song together, just us' and that’s how it happened – so then I did a song with Bruno and I did a song with Bieber and these individual songs started happening and then it turned into a project…It was a really good experience putting the record together."
Take a look at some of the biggest collaborations we've had so far this year:
Radio - Collabs 2019 - stacked
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1 of 17Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello - 'Señorita'
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello teamed up for their summer hit 'Señorita', also dropping their steamy music video.
2 of 17Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - 'I Don't Care'
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber have teamed up for 'I Don't Care', a catchy, upbeat song which was immediately a hit with fans around the world.
3 of 17Calvin Harris and Rag'n'Bone Man
Not only is Calvin Harris a superstar DJ, he's also an amazing producer and he teamed up with Rag'n'Bone Man on 'Giant' in January. The DJ told us how the singer slid into his DMs, sending over some chord ideas - and before long the pair were working together on this hit - 'Giant'.
4 of 17Sam Smith and Normani - 'Dancing with a Stranger'
Normani confirmed she was working with Sam Smith late last year, and the pair dropped their single 'Dancing With A Stranger' in January.
5 of 17Lauv & Troye Sivan - 'i'm so tired...'
American singer-songwriter Lauv and Australian singer-songwriter Troye Sivan teamed up for this Top 10 hit, 'i'm so tired...'.
6 of 17Jonas Blue with Theresa Rex - 'What I Like About You'
British DJ and producer Jonas Blue has teamed up with Danish singer Theresa Rex for their great song 'What I Like About You', which reached the Top 10 in the UK Dance Chart.
7 of 17Europa (Jax Jones & Martin Solveig) - 'All Day and Night' with Madison Beer
This collaboration between British DJ Jax Jones and French DJ Martin Solveig, under their collaborative name Europa, was released in March.
8 of 17Avicii and Aloe Blacc 'SOS'
'SOS' is the first single to be released since the untimely death of Avicii in April 2018. At the time of his death, Avicii had been working on a new album and the album was completed by his collaborators and released with the permission of his family.
9 of 17Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie - 'ME!'
Taylor's first single of 2019 was a collaboration with Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco. The pop star had her fans very excited when she first posted a date on her socials. On the 26th April it was revealed to be a new single, 'ME!'. The song, along with the music video have been a huge hit with fans. In just a few hours the music video had more than 16 million views.
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10 of 17Avicii and Chris Martin
Following the release of Avicii's posthumous album, 'Tim', the music video for 'Heaven', his collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin was released. The video was very emotional to watch.
11 of 17Ariana Grande and Social House
Ariana Grande teamed up with American duo Social House on her single 'Boyfriend'. The music video for the song featured all three of them at a house party, which ended in a fight. Ariana even ended up shooting heart-shaped lasers!
12 of 17John Newman and Nina Nesbitt
John Newman and Nina Nesbitt joined forces on their new collaboration 'Without You'. 'Without You' comes four years after John's last Top 5 hit, 'Come and Get It' was released and speaking about his new collaboration, John said, "I have also been a fan of Nina and always loved working with her, it was an easy decision to get her on this stonker!"
13 of 17Kygo and Whitney Houston
Norwegian DJ Kygo released one of the hits of 2019 when he remixed Whitney Houston's cover of 'Higher Love'.
14 of 17Ed Sheeran and Stormzy
Ed and Stormzy worked together for Ed's collab album in 2019, releasing the massive track 'Take Me Back To London'.
15 of 17Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey
They are three of the most successful women in pop, so when Ariana, Miley and Lana teamed up to release 'Don't Call Me Angel' for the 2019 movie adaptation of Charlie's Angels, fans were left over the moon!
16 of 17Becky Hill and Sigala
He's dropped some massive its in recent years, but Sigala's 2019 collab with Becky Hill was certainly one of his most popular! Becky wrote the track about an ex-boyfriend, and it became one of the tracks of the summer.
17 of 17Tiesto and Mabel
Legendary DJ Tiesto teamed up with Mabel to release 'God Is A Dancer' in September 2019.
So, whilst 'Lady Marmalade' itself didn't come about, Ed did get a whole album out the idea! 'Lady Marmalade' was originally released in 1974, and has been covered a number of times since, with perhaps the biggest success going to the version with Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink and rapper Lil' Kim, recorded for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack.
Ed's new album, is due for release on 12th July 2019, will feature 15 brand new tracks, including his new single 'Cross Me' featuring Chance The Rapper and PNB Rock.
Speaking about the new project, Ed Sheeran said, “Before I was signed in 2011, I made an EP called No.5 Collaborations Project. Since then, I’ve always wanted to do another, so I started No.6 on my laptop when I was on tour last year.
We can't wait for it to drop!
NOW WATCH: Ed Sheeran answers the Internet's rhetorical questions
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