Ed Sheeran Set To Release Christmas Song With Elton John In December

Singer Ed Sheeran has revealed his upcoming Christmas track with Elton John will drop in December.

Sheeran announced the duet during an interview with a Dutch morning radio program “Jan-Willem Start Op” at NPO Radio 2 on Wednesday after hosts asked him repeatedly about information regarding the collaboration.

According to the “Bad Habits” singer, John reached out to him in 2020 for the project after the latter discovered that his 1973 hit “Step Into Christmas” had hit No. 6 in the UK chart Top 10.

“Elton rang me on Christmas Day to say Merry Christmas. Elton rings me almost every single day,” Sheeran said. “He said, 'Step Into Christmas is Number 6 in the charts and I’m 74 and I’m still having f----ng chart hit. This is great. I want to do another Christmas song. Will you do it with me?'”

The “Shape Of You” artist admitted in the interview he was initially skeptical about the idea, saying, “I’ve never really wanted to do a Christmas song." But, he added, the death of a close friend in March changed his mind. He decided to take the opportunity and proceed with the duet with John.

“It really just hit home how stuff can just change overnight," he said. "I was like, 'Why the f--k am I not doing a Christmas song with Elton John? I might not be here tomorrow; this will be a f---ing great way to celebrate Christmas,” Sheeran told program hosts Jan-Willem Roodbeen and Jeroen Kijk in de Vegte.

Sheeran said he and John wrote the track together, and added, “It’s just me and him. It’s great.”

Here is a portion of the interview from the official Twitter account of “Jan-William Start Op.”

Grote primeur in het 10-voor-9 journaal! @edsheeran heeft een kerstsingle met @eltonjohn gemaakt. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/sygJQNTvbS
— Jan-Willem Start Op! (@jwstartop) October 6, 2021

The tweet, which was originally posted in Dutch, was translated by Twitter as saying, “Big scoop in the 10-for-9 news! @edsheeran has a Christmas single with @eltonjohn.”

Both Sheeran and John are set to release new music this month.

Sheeran’s long-awaited fourth studio album, “= (equals)” is set to drop on Oct. 29 via Atlantic Records. It will contain his latest single, “Bad Habits.”

Meanwhile, John is also gearing for the release of his album, “The Lockdown Sessions,” which features several artists such as Miley Cyrus and Stevie Wonder among others. His album is set to be released on Oct. 22 via Interscope Records.