Ed Sheeran Shrugs Off Comments That He’s Cute: ‘Strip Away the Guitar and the Songs, No One Cares’

Ed Sheeran’s impressive music career has brought along with it a level of pop stardom that the singer remains unfazed by.

In conversation with Gayle King at the premiere of his Disney+ docuseries, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, in New York City on Tuesday, Sheeran, 32, opened up about how his focus has always been on working harder than everyone else in the room, rather than trying to sell himself or his image.

“You describe yourself as a speccy [with] ginger hair who stutters,” King said, referring to how Sheeran describes his signature red-hair-and-glasses look in the docuseries. “That guy doesn’t become a pop star, yet you did.”

As Sheeran opened up about his impressive work ethic, and noted how much he’s improved since his early days, King jokingly asked, “Were you always this cute?”

“I feel like, if you strip away the guitar on the songs, then no one cares,” Sheeran candidly replied, revealing an inside look at his perspective on his own success.

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He then joked about how “celebrities sell fragrances,” and asked King, “Would you buy my fragrance?”

“We would buy your hair product,” she replied, to which Sheeran said, “No, you wouldn’t.”

The singer, who is in the middle of yet another high-profile legal case over his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud,” also opened up to King about how he went from what he called “really bad” at singing and performing when he was younger to the music industry titan he is now.

Ed Sheeran.

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The CBS Mornings host, 68, asked, “You always knew you were going to work hard. You wanted it that badly, did you not?”

Sheeran then shared a piece of advice his father had given him, recalling, “‘The people that work hard are the ones that get furthest, not the most talented people,'” a statement which he said inspired him to “work harder than people” around him in order to pursue a career in music.

“I had very limited talent as a kid, and I was like what’s the one thing I can do, is I can outwork whoever. So I’d be doing shows with people that were 10 times better than me. Infinitely. Better songs, better voice, better guitar players, better performers, but I knew that I could get up to that level by outworking them.”

He continued, “People think that I was born with natural talent. You can go on YouTube and find videos of me at 13 and 14, and it’s really bad. It’s really bad.”

Ed Sheeran.

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Sheeran’s docuseries, which premiered Wednesday, shines light on his private life and struggles, including his wife Cherry Seaborn’s cancer diagnosis and the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards.

He told King that his intention with the series, which is the most intimate look at his life thus far, was for it to be “human and relatable,” rather than a buttoned-up “promo package where it’s like it’s what the artist wants you to see.”

“I never wanted to make a documentary that was like, ‘sad pop star’ and feel sorry for ‘sad pop star.’ And what I think that is really great about the documentary is the themes that it explores, everyone goes through. Everyone goes through the fear of sickness in the family. Everyone goes through grief. Everyone goes through ups and downs of their mental health.”

He added, “I think it’s more human. I think that’s the thing with this documentary is people watch it and, when they see how I react to it, they’re not saying, ‘Oh, I’m sad for Ed because Ed’s sad.’ They’re watching it, relating it to their own life.”

“I think that that’s why the documentary’s powerful. I’ve spoken to [the series’ producer] Ben Winston a lot about this, and it isn’t a documentary on a musician. I feel like it’s a documentary on grief.”

Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn.

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Despite his openness about the tumultuous chapter of his life — his wife’s cancer diagnosis, Edwards’ death, and the birth of his second daughter all came within months of each other — Sheeran said he’s looking forward to returning to his usual, private life.

“What I’m hoping is that this documentary goes out there and it exists for what it should exist for, which is a snapshot of grief and mental health and depression, and that we can close the door again and get on with our life.”

Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All is now streaming on Disney+.