'People will deny this': Ed Sheeran reveals his biggest career regret – and why it involves Justin Bieber

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is a four-time Grammy Award winner but even he has major career regrets.

One of them is writing and selling a song to pop icon Justin Bieber, the singer revealed in a resurfaced video.

In the video interview above, Ed explains why he didn't keep the hit song for himself.

"People involved will deny this," he began. "But there is no way I would've given this song away if... people liked it," Ed admitted to Hot Ones host Sean Evans.

Ed was referring to Love Yourself, which he wrote for Justin Bieber and went on to become Justin's third consecutive number-one single.

Stream episodes of Hot Ones for free on 9Now.

"I remember playing it [Love Yourself] for people and they were like ehhh, and so I gave it away," Ed explained.

"Now it's like 'Why did you give it away!?'"

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In 2017, Ed released "the biggest hit" of his career. The song went on to become the most-streamed song of the decade. But it almost didn't make his album.

"I've been wrong in a lot of cases, and I've been right in a lot of cases", Ed admitted to Hot Ones host Sean Evans.

"With Shape of You, didn't want to put that on my album," Ed revealed, referring to his third studio album ÷ ("Divide").

"Everyone was saying, if you put this on, it will be the biggest hit of your career. I was like 'no'," Ed smiled shortly after eating a very hot wing.

How right they were.

Taking a much needed sip of water, Ed explained why he thought it wasn't time to release the pop single.

"I thought, 'It doesn't sonically fit, I've made this album, it's perfect in my mind I don't want to put this on'," he told Sean.

"I kind of felt it was like cheating, because I'd basically had done a paint-by-numbers pop tune," said the singer-songwriter.

"It was the biggest hit of my career, and I love playing it live, I love seeing the reaction it has from people and I hear it everywhere. So I was wrong there."

A year after its release, Shape of You became the first song to hit 2 billion streams on Spotify and is currently the second most streamed song on the platform (after the Weeknd's Blinding Lights.

During the viral talk show, celebrity guests are asked hot questions while eating increasingly hotter wings.

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One particular hot question, was what Ed thought led to the "breakthrough" of his career. The singer opened up about moving to London at age 17, while doing shows and "being forgotten about"

He bought a ticket to LA and surprisingly, it was a "poetry gig" that changed everything.

Speaking to Sean, Ed opened up about that time in his life below:

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"I was British, the only white guy in the room with a guitar with like, crazy hair," he recalled. "I stood up on stage... and it was the best reaction I'd ever got from any show."

When he got back to England, Ed found his feet in the UK underground comedy, rap and jazz scene.

"At the time, the UK underground scene was the catalyst for me having success," he smiled.

Catch Ed Sheeran's full interview in Episode 7, Season 15 of Hot Ones on 9Now.

Stream episodes of Hot Ones for free on 9Now.

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