Ed Sheeran confirms collaboration with Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes for new album

Ed Sheeran has teased an upcoming collaboration with Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Barnes to appear on his upcoming fifth record.

In an interview with Hit Network’s Ash London, the UK singer-songwriter revealed that both artists had contributed backing vocals to the song ‘Visiting Hours’, which Sheeran debuted live at Mushroom founder Michael Gudinski’s memorial service at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena in March.

“Jimmy Barnes and Kylie are actually singing on that on the album now. I’ve got them singing backing vocals on it,” Sheeran said after London complimented the track.

Sheeran, who established a tight relationship with Gudinski through the late executive’s Frontier Touring enterprise, noted that the Mushroom mogul considered both Minogue and Barnes to be “the most important people in [his] life, musically”.

“He was always saying ‘Kylie’ or ‘Jimmy Barnes’,” Sheeran said of his Australian mentor.

“I sang with Kylie and then I hung with Jimmy afterwards, and I was like ‘You guys have to be on this song’, so I recorded it and sent it off to them, and they’re on it.”

Although ‘Visiting Hours’ remains unreleased at this stage, Sheeran released the first taste of his forthcoming album last week with the EDM-inspired ‘Bad Habits’.

We CAN’T BELIEVE we’re getting an @edsheeran x @kylieminogue collab!!!!

Ed talked fatherhood, separating fame and family and more here: https://t.co/1jQMiMRgw1 pic.twitter.com/li3QXqGiP8

— Ash London LIVE! (@AshLondonLIVE) June 25, 2021