Ed Sheeran Reveals How His "River" Collaboration With Eminem Came Together

It all started with an email he received from Paul Rosenberg.

Ed Sheeran is one of the many pop features on Eminem’s upcoming album Revival, appearing on a song called “River.” During an interview with Billboard, the pop singer revealed how his dream collaboration with the Detroit rapper came together.

According to the “Shape Of You” singer, it all started when he received an email from Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg asking for song ideas around March 2016:

I was traveling Australia and Russell Crowe has a house that’s a big farm.. [that] has a recording studio on it… I get an email from Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager, and he said, ‘We’re going to start putting together the album together. Send any ideas.’

From there, Sheeran pulled from “a very clear thing in my head” he had reserved for Eminem to compose a track in Crowe’s recording studio. He laid down a hook while playing the drums, guitar, and piano, but didn’t hear anything back about the song pitch until over a year later when he heard from Eminem producer Emile Haynie:

[In] May 2017 I was in Mexico and my mate Emile who produces a lot for Eminem is like, ‘I’ve done some drums and stuff on the 'River’ song that you wrote.‘ I was like, 'Oh, cool. Are you going to send it to him?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, no. He’s done his verses.’

Soon after, Sheeran and Haynie tweaked the song, and the pop singer later had the chance to meet Eminem in Detroit:

He’s such a sweet, talented guy… It’s a door that I thought was closed and just opened randomly.

Revival arrives this Friday, December 15th. In addition to Sheeran, the album includes Kehlani, P!nk, Alicia Keys, Skylar Grey, X Ambassadors, Beyoncé, and Brooklyn MC PHresher. Ahead of the release, Eminem dropped “Walk On Water” featuring Beyoncé and the politically charged “Untouchable.”

Sheeran recently made another major guest appearance on Taylor Swift’s “End Game” with Future. A few weeks ago, the singer got a boost on his hit “Perfect” when Beyoncé hopped on the official remix.