The Edge Breakfast - EXCLUSIVE: ED SHEERAN CATCHES UP WITH ASH LONDON!

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

A secret month-long project in New Zealand, Whittaker’s chocolate, boy bands, and new music—Ed Sheeran’s coming back to New Zealand in 2026, and Ash London gets the goss. Tours, tunes, and sooo much more!   Presales start Monday 28 July. Tickets go on sale next Tuesday 29 July. Get all the deets at theedge.rova.nz

This is a podcast from Rover. Kia ora everybody, welcome along to the OnlyFans podcast. It's going to be a special edition. The full chat that Ash had with her mate, Ed Sheeran. Yeah, such a legend. He's coming to Aotearoa near our early 2026 loop tour, kicking it off here in Auckland. So exciting.

Is he bringing a band? Because last time it was a band. I didn't ask him, I'm sorry. You need to submit questions in advance. I can't read your mind down. OK, sorry about that. If you wanted to know that, you had a couple of days. I did say't ask him, I'm sorry. With the loops and stuff. You need to submit questions in advance. I can't read your mind, Dan. Okay, sorry about that. If you wanted to know that, you had a couple of days.

I did say to the management, I was like, do you want Ash just there, or do you want someone else to ask questions as well? And they were adamant they just wanted Ash. Because last time I pissed off Sam Smith. I did hear about that. And so they don't let me interview the A-listers anymore. Not on your own, Dan needs supervision.

Yeah, yeah. You need a minder. You know what, interesting, I've never done a solo interview since. That's actually great. It's kind of like if you're playing football, soccer and you don't have the goalie, you never want to play great in goal because then all of a sudden you're that guy. So you play badly in goal or in this situation badly doing interviews, and now you never have to play goalie again. And now I'm playing left right out.

That's my husband pretending that he really can't cook. Maybe he can, because I do all the cooking. What's that called? Weaponised incompetence. Oh I love that, weaponised incompetence. I can't cook. Oh so how do I wear it? Sorry, where's the mixing bowl? And then you go just fuck it. Just go away. I'll do it It's why we do things for kids because they aglow we don't know and then you just do it for them And then they've just come useless adults. It's like my wife. She doesn't know where the fuel nozzle is on the car I have to fill it up every week. Filling up the petrol as a woman my most hated thing. Really? I hate it. Why? What is that? You push the button and then you put the knob on it and squeeze it.

It feels to me just like the biggest waste of my time. I just hate doing it and I will do anything to avoid doing it. I will run the car on fumes. I will break down on a freeway. I don't know what it is. Also, I've always got my kid with me and when we go to the petrol station he always wants a treat. I'll tell you what's a waste of time, breaking down on the motorway. Yeah. For no one. It's never happened to me. Yeah, I've never been in a car that's run out of fuel.

Yeah me neither. Because Hamish and Andy, Australian radio hosts, did this thing once where they tested it out and the car went so far on an empty tank that now every time I go, oh Hamish and Andy. I reckon so many people have broken down because of that Hamish and Andy prank. Yeah, going, oh I've got at least another 50k. But they're in a different car with a different fuel tank or some shit. Yeah, well, probably the most intriguing thing was that Winnie Churin does come here. He was telling Ash what you'll hear in the chat. He's not just coming over here doing three shows and then leaving. He's going to be here for a long time. Yeah, because his first show is the 16th, I think, and the last one's the 24th. So I thought he's going to be here for eight days.

You'll hear that that is not the case. That is not the case! What's he doing? He's here for a month. He's gotta be shooting something, or he's doing the music to a film that's being shot here, but then you could make the music at home and send it. So it's gotta be an acting gig. He loves a little acting cameo, doesn't he? Yeah, what are we doing? Acting? It's either Shortland Street or... What? He's probably doing a new Air New Zealand in-flight safety video.

That's not going to take a month. That would be... What? They've got kids with him so... They might be trapping him, they might be sending him up to the mountains, you know they film all over the place. Maybe Brits is giving him a free campervan trip. Oh that'll be it.

Maui. He's doing a Maui six-birth campervan trip. Five thousand dollar contra deal. That's what he's doing. Yeah. For his Instagram. You'll see him. You just have to do 10 reels. Hashtag Spon.

Hashtag Sponsored. Pay promotion. Gifted. Oh, I love it. Thank you to my friends at At Bretz. Yeah, that's it. He's been giving a free Maui camel, Bretz, for a few weeks. You listen to the chat, listen to his inflections and see if you can pick up what he's putting

down. All right, enjoy. Hello Ed Sheeran, my love. How you doing? I was trying to work out how long since the first one. We couldn't possibly be old enough, Dahl, for it to be 14 years. Christ, yeah, I know, I guess we are though. And you're coming on tour, baby.

And I have, since we last spoke relocated to New Zealand so I'm speaking to you from Auckland right now, which is where you're kicking the bloody whole world tour off Which is so sick. We feel so special. Definitely. How are you finding the move? It's the best It is a wonderful place to raise kids and look if you're looking for some great Kiwi music to be inspired from, to collaborate with, you need to... I've been thinking about who I would recommend as a freshie to Aotearoa. And I'm going to suggest Marlon Williams, who is an amazing Kiwi artist. He just put out his first Today Your Māori album.

You'll like... Marlon Williams. Marlon Williams, yeah. And he's a really, really special artist. And I think you'll really kind of love his music. So get around Marlon. But you're gonna be here for like a week and a half. And you know, like what you said about the experience of this album is that you got a chance to kind of engage in the cultures that you were traveling in. I see you and Cherry and the kids in a camper van,

just living your best NZ life. We are going to be there more than a week and a half. I think that was the plan. I think we're going to try and be there for about a month. Shut up. I love being there. There's also like, there's something else I'm working on down there that requires me to be there for a little bit more time. But yeah. Oh, you're killing me. Obviously, I'm not going to ask you to divulge because I'm a respectful music journalist,

but that's really exciting and we can't wait to have you because the food's good. It's the best milk you'll ever have in your life. And do you know that you went viral last time you were here, I found out today, for bagging out New Zealand chocolate and it was on the news. It was like literally on the news. I know, I bagged it out in 2015 and I've never lived it down. But I will say whenever I go there now I get three Whittaker's chucks at me and it's great. It's delicious.

How do you know it's time to go again? Because it's kind of like having another baby right? When you've already done it and you know that it's life-changing and amazing and feels good but it's so grueling how do you decide to do the tour again and to go and and take it on is it a family meeting does the Sheeran team sit down and go have we got capacity what are we going to do or do you just have a feeling? Yeah I think that but I also think I don't think it's grueling for me anymore. I've got a really good routine of, I only play weekends, so I've got like full complete weeks with family and kids and then we travel out to gigs on the weekends. So it's not like I'm not leaving for months.

I've done this tour whilst doing the school run. So I think that, yeah, I don't find it grueling. I find Australia and New Zealand is always like a holiday. So I never have to convince my family to go. It's always like, yeah, that's going to be really fun. And it's not like we do it. It's not like we do Australia and New Zealand every year either. It's like it is three years since the last one. You come out a lot though, like comparatively when we compete with other artists, you come out a lot. And we're so grateful for that.

It is a part of the, it was the first part of the world to like really embrace me other than Moe. Yeah. And I think because culturally we are very similar. Totally. We love you. You brought out Westlife recently at your hometown gig and that's life-changing for me because Westlife will my everything growing up and I think the world needs more boy bands at the moment. We need more joy. So in the Ed Sheeran boy band that you are a part of, who is joining your boy band? I

have two names in my mind but we'll see what you say. I'd probably say Capaldi. He'd be a good one. That was one that I thought I'd love to see him in there. And then probably James Blunt. They're not two I thought and you could be a threesome. There are some great threesome boy bands. We have to go through so many shows though because I think we'd all egg each other on on the sash. It would be like 10.45 and the crowd would be there like chanting your name. And then one of you might come out and be like, sorry, I'll just do one acoustic cover.

That is probably what happened back in the day with these bands though, you know, they probably just... and I will say, from my experience, the least rock and roll people in the world are rock and roll bands. They're all green juice yoga. The most rock and roll people in the world are always boy bands. And even like, I played in Birmingham maybe like 10 years ago and there was the big reunion tour where they had all the old 90s boy bands and I just remember looking at all of them and being like, wow, you can party like bloody hell. Of course. Well, they did it back in the day when there was no TikTok or Instagram. Like they were menaces and no one was uploading footage of them, you know, like dry humping

a bar in SoHo with dubious substances around. Like that was the time to do it. It probably could have saved some livers, but hey, like they're living, mate. You are in a very reflective phase and this album and everything that's been going on lately for you with the hometown gig and everything you've kind of talked about

and you're bringing your mates out for cheeky bit of wheaters. Does it feel like you have been kind of looking back and reflecting on this ridiculous life? Yeah, I guess there's always like reflection, but I think it's now more so than ever just realizing that it's settled and level and you can have like that. I think that I don't know, before I would have like even just bringing my mates out to play Weedsters, there would have been so much thought process to that, but we played a wedding together and I was just like, you should just come out on the show and have fun. And yeah, I think it's, there's just, there's a lot of fun to be had now.

It's, I don't feel like anything is going to get taken away from me, you know? Because we try and control so much, right? Especially in your 20s and you think oh if I can control it all I can stay safe and I can whatever but I think you do get to a point where you realise that you've just got to kind of throw at a wall and see what sticks and actually just have fun and let life be fun right? Yeah totally. I'm not blowing smoke but I think Sapphire is my favourite song that you've ever put out. There's like a magic to it, especially that last 40 seconds where it's just this kind of explosion of

color and life and light and I got emotional listening to it before I'd even seen the video. But man, like, could you feel that magic when you were in the studio making it? Or did it just come together once you hear the finished product? Yeah. And I think that every step of the song, because the song happened in different increments and I think every step of the song felt even more special and magic. And I think that, uh, I've, I've wanted to work within, um, Indian culture for a while, but not wanted it to feel forced or too planned. And I think that that song felt very natural and it was around the time I was touring India as well so

all the jigsaw pieces sort of fell in place. But yeah, we've got a full version with Aarijit Singh coming this Friday which is, I think, my favourite version of the song. It's just very, very joyful and fun. But yeah, I think every step of the way that song has been joy and playing it live and like I really feel it too. There is a different energy with that tune when I play it and people obviously have liked it instantly, but it's also a big grower as well.

It's really like people, as you say, and thank you for saying that, but it's become my fan's favourite song of my catalogue, which is cool. And there's something about those kind of like traditional Indian melodies, which are traditional and have lived on through Indian pop music. There's a reason they've been around for so long. I reckon there's something magic about it. Yeah. And it's a hugely vibrant culture. When we were there, every hundred miles, the language changes,

the rhythms change, the instruments change, the food changes, the fashion changes. It's a huge place with lots in it. So that's like literally scratching the surface. That's only really one stylistic element. We can't wait to see you in Aotearoa in early 2026. We love you. We can't wait to party with you.

Thanks for making time, brother. Thanks so much. I'll see you there. Bye. Bye. Rover Music Radio Podcasts.