Ed Sheeran Wants to Make His Own Version of ‘Lady Marmalade’ With Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars
Ed Sheeran recently revealed more details about his upcoming album, No. 6 Collaborations Project. One of those details is the fact that he wants to put his own spin on "Lady Marmalade" with none other than Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars.
The insight comes from a new sit-down interview with Charlamagne Tha God during which Sheeran detailed how the concept came to be. “This project started with one idea I had. You remember ‘Lady Marmalade?’" Sheeran asked the host. "This is such a silly idea, but I had an idea of doing that. You could get Bruno [Mars], [Justin] Bieber, and me, on a record. How fun would that be?"
Sheeran is referring to the 2001 version of the iconic "Lady Marmalade" which includes Pink, Christina Aguilera, Mya and Lil Kim — though their version was actually a cover of Patti LaBelle's original recording from 1974.
The first person he called to ask about this rendition? "Obviously, the first person I rung was Bruno, and he was like, ‘Let’s just do a song together, just us.’ That’s how it happened," Sheeran explained. "So then I did a song with Bruno and did a song with Bieber, and then these individual songs started happening and it turned into a project.”
Sheeran is no stranger to unique collaborations. On his last record he remixed his song "Perfect" into two separate versions, one with Beyoncé and one with Andrea Bocelli. His upcoming album is filled entirely with collaborations.
"Throughout the year, any time I met anyone that I'd been a fan of or owned an album, it was the first time I was able to be like, 'Let's get in the studio,'" Sheeran said. "For me, this is a compilation album of artists that I am a fan of, that I have made music with. I wouldn't call it a mixtape."
Though we won't get an updated version of "Lady Marmalade" from a male perspective (just yet, anyway), we will have more new music — and collabs! — from Sheeran when No. 6 Collaborations Project releases Friday, July 12.