Ed Sheeran explains how Bieber's 'Love Yourself' was nearly a Rihanna song with NSFW lyrics

Track became a massive hit for Bieber

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Ed Sheeran has revealed that the song he wrote for Justin Bieber, 'Love Yourself', was originally penned with Rihanna in mind.

Speaking to Howard Stern on SiriusXM on Tuesday (March 7), Sheeran said that the song included the line "Oh, baby you should go and fuck yourself" instead of "…love yourself".

"Rihanna could get away with saying 'you should go and fuck yourself,' in my mind anyway," Sheeran said.

He went on to explain how he never got round to showing the track to Rihanna and gave it to Bieber instead.

"It kind of came at a zeitgeist time for his career, where he had fallen out of grace with the public, and he had this comeback song that was quite grown up," Sheeran added.

Sheeran had previously stated that 'Love Yourself' wouldn't have made it onto his album.

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'Shape Of You' from Sheeran's latest album '÷' was also originally written for Rihanna.

Meanwhile, Sheeran has broken Spotify streaming records with the release of his new album '÷'.

His long-awaited third album – his first since June 2014's 'x' – hit both digital and physical shelves last Friday (March 3). Fans responded to the new full-length record positively, while bookmakers quickly moved to post '÷' as one of the favourites to be the biggest-selling album of 2017 in the UK.

Read more: 50 things you didn't know about Ed Sheeran

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