Sade Olutola explains how Ed Sheeran inspired her ‘Arrow Heart’ EP at Reading 2026

Sade Olutola explained how Ed Sheeran inspired her ‘Arrow Heart’ EP during an interview backstage at Reading 2026. The rising south London pop artist made her first appearance at the festival earlier today (August 29), performing on The Canopy stage. Afterwards, she joined NME backstage to discuss her first EP, which was released in February. The concept for ‘Arrow Heart’ came from an idea she had as an 11-year-old in her “Ed Sheeran phase” – something she laughed about when reminded of it. “When I was 11, I discovered Ed Sheeran – my friend Ella put me on,” Olutola said. “When he toured, he would draw the icon of what he was trying to do – like a plus sign on his guitar or a divide or multiply. Then he would also name his guitar. So I did the same thing, but I was like, ‘I need to come up with my own cool version.’ Sade Olutola backstage at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME “So I drew an arrow heart on my guitar, and I called her Mexi, and I wrote a tracklist – it was at the top of my songwriting book, and it was called ‘Arrow Heart’. [Now], I thought, ‘Oh, I’m releasing my first EP now and I want to pay homage to her’. That was the first time I had been ambitious to want to...