Cradle of Filth frontman Dani Filth has addressed the long-rumored collaboration with pop superstar Ed Sheeran, confirming during a recent interview with Craig Reynolds that the song is real and will eventually appear on a Cradle of Filth record.
Asked directly whether the Ed Sheeran song was actually happening, Filth explained, “Well, it always happened. And it was just there were things, you know, we talked about it. Things that meant that it had to be. I thought it was coming out sooner than it did. So I banged on about it in the press and of course the press jumps on it.”
He continued, “Then the kind of you know the magic and surprise has been sucked out of it and then we felt that was going to overshadow the last record. So that was part of the reason as well.”
Filth also touched on Sheeran’s own career considerations. “It was more the fact that he was um there was a part of his career where they decided to, I don’t know, take some time off and whatever and then he was doing something else and it kind of collided with that. And of course, if you’re trying to, I don’t know, do something new in a new area, you don’t want to be tiled with the brush of like, as they would say, playing with a death metal band. That’s what they would have said, you know, death metal.”
Ultimately, Filth confirmed the track’s fate: “It will be on the record. It won’t be a single because that’s a deal that we did. But it’s a really good song.”
Filth’s explanation places the collaboration in a longer story involving Sheeran’s public love of extreme metal, the timing of the project, and Cradle of Filth’s plans for its next album.
The rumors gathered pace in 2022 after Sheeran discussed his fondness for metal and named Cradle of Filth and Slipknot among the bands he listened to. Those comments helped fuel speculation about a possible partnership between the Suffolk artists.
Filth later confirmed that the musicians had recorded a song together. He said in January 2024 that the collaboration was still planned for Cradle of Filth’s next album, although the release timeline eventually changed.
That album was not The Screaming of the Valkyries. Cradle of Filth’s 14th studio album arrived in March 2025 through Napalm Records. Filth’s latest comments suggest the Sheeran track was held back so it would not overshadow that release.
Filth has continued to describe the collaboration as part of the band’s future plans. He reiterated the status of the song, saying, “It’s going to be on the next record.”
The project did face further uncertainty in 2025 amid internal disputes within Cradle of Filth. Former guitarist Ashok requested that his compositions be removed from upcoming releases, including the Sheeran collaboration. Filth’s latest confirmation indicates that the band still intends to release the song, but not as a standalone single.
