Elton John has said he encouraged Ed Sheeran to take some time away from the spotlight.
“He was so omnipresent I said, ‘Ed, even I'm sick of you. Go away.’ And he did,” the music legend told Rolling Stone.
“He just went to the Far East with his girlfriend, had a great time, put on a lot of weight, ate food and came back.”
John added that he actually warned Sheeran about putting on weight because the two stars have similar metabolism.
“He came back heavy, but he lost it all for the album,” the “Tiny Dancer” singer said.
(John said the "unfortunate" thing about Sheeran "is that everyone sounds like Ed Sheeran now: Shawn Mendes, Bieber, blah, blah.")
He said Taylor Swift was also smart to step back for a bit.
“I mean, all she's got now is the single with Zayn Malik for the Fifty Shades of Gray soundtrack.
"You haven't really heard much of her since 1989, except when she broke up with Tom Hiddleston, that's about it.”