Is there a legitimate beef between Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi, as Sheeran responds to ‘Anti-Ed’ chants?

In the history of music, feuds or “beefs” are commonplace; one only has to go back to the classical era where one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri had issues (allegedly one sided professional jealousy, so Mozart’s people told me…), through to the tension between John and Paul, Noel and Liam and, how can we forget - Taylor and Katy.

But one beef that we aren’t too sure is serious or not has been given a boost after his performance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend. Though most of the coverage was focused on Royal Blood’s tantrum on stage that not enough people were giving them audience validation, there also happened to be another incident - one involved lovable blue eyed soul singer Lewis Capaldi.

He led what has been described as an “anti-Ed Sheeran” chant with his audience last weekend; a form of crowd participation that hasn’t been lost on Ed Sheeran, who has come out today with his response to the chants. 

“I thought we were friends, Lewis. I thought we were friends you f…,” Sheeran said with a smile on his face as he added some saltier bleeped language. The video came with a playful message tweaking Capaldi using his own lyrics, with Sheeran writing, “I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved.”

The beef? Harmless banter between the two, who in the past have spoken highly of one another. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Lewis Capaldi mentioned that he had met Ed Sheeran a few times and praised him as one of the greatest songwriters of their generation. Capaldi expressed his appreciation for Sheeran's ability to create timeless songs that connect with people.

Similarly, Ed Sheeran has spoken positively about Lewis Capaldi's music and career, having mentioned in the past that he was a fan of Capaldi's song writing skills and described him as a "brilliant" and "very funny" artist. Sheeran also expressed his excitement about Capaldi's success and rising popularity in the music industry.

So no bad blood - just a whole bunch of foul mouthed banter from easily two of the most beloved British artists in recent years. Given that Ed Sheeran guested on Capaldi’s UK album chart topping ‘Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent,’ it would be pretty impressive if things soured so quickly.

Then again - music is a fickle business…