Ed Sheeran reveals 'Love Yourself' could have been a NSFW Rihanna jam

It's not too late to do this song properly, Riri.

During a SiriusXM interview with Howard Stern, Ed Sheeran explained why he gave up the hit song "Love Yourself" to Justin Bieber. Sheeran explained that it felt like a throwaway at the time because it was never going to make it onto one of his albums. He also divulged that he had another singer in mind for the song: everyone's favorite bad gal, Rihanna.

The singer played the original, R-rated chorus for Stern, sining, "If you like the way you look that much/ Oh, baby you should go and fuck yourself."

Sheeran said at first he was "hearing Rihanna... coming in with a bit of that swag... and Rihanna could get away with saying 'you should go and fuck yourself,' in my mind anyway."

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However, Sheeran never approached Riri with the song and instead chose to give to Justin Bieber. He went on to explain that he thought Biebs could to pull off a less-explicit version and that, "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."

Well, Riri may not have sung it but we can all agree this song is a bop.