Ed Sheeran is known as the romantic ballad guy, but as he told journalists at an in-person news conference at West Hollywood’s London Hotel Sunday morning, he likes a challenge.
That came when he was asked to do a rockin’ guitar riff song for the movie F1, starring Brad Pitt. Challenge accepted. Sheeran wrote the track with Blake Slatkin and John Mayer and then collaborated with Dave Grohl on drums and Pino Palladino on bass to achieve the driving rock sound that fits the movie’s high octane theme.
Of course, the track is called “Drive,” and it starts as the film is ending when Pitt is shown driving down to Mexico for yet another race after his F1 triumph, and continues through the closing credits.
Sheeran revealed he gets approached to do songs for many movies– most of which are in the romantic comedy vein– but he really wanted to do a pounding rock song and was especially excited because he loves F1 racing, being the “British boy” that he is.
He also said he’s a huge movie fan in general and loves to collect memorabilia from films including one of his favorites, Batman and Robin. You know, the one starring George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in the title roles. “You can get the stuff for real cheap because people didn’t like that film very much,” he said, eliciting laughter from the crowd of about 25 people who came out early on a Sunday morning to speak with him.
Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of F1 and I’ve seen it several times after initially being grabbed by the thrilling, pulsating opening chords of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” all of which plays out in the opening scene as Pitt is woken up in the back of his van and then walks into the racetrack. The iconic classic rock song tells you a lot of what you need to know about his character.
I asked Sheeran if he was aware that “Whole Lotta Love” was going to open the movie when he was asked to write the closing song. He said he was and felt compelled to match the driving energy of it, although not many songs can rival Robert Plant’s passionate wailing on that 1969 tune off Led Zep’s second LP.
Later, in a one-on-one chat he told me that producer Jerry Bruckheimer initially considered having “Drive” open the film and “Whole Lotta Love” close it out, but it’s much better the way it is– a perfect ending to one of the best films of the year.
