Pecohub Ed Sheeran isn’t pressing play on the idea of going to space.
While the Grammy winner was previously offered the opportunity to perform the “first gig in space,” he quickly turned it down—and here’s why.
“It terrifies me,” Ed said of space travel in a Sept. 17 interview with Scott Mills on BBC Radio 2. “I want to go to space when it’s like flying to France and 40,000 people have done it, and you can just book it online.”
And while others might jump at the opportunity to be one of the first people to showcase their talents outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the “Sapphire” singer has no interest in being a pioneer.
“I don’t want to be a guinea pig for that, because it still is dangerous,” Ed—who shares kids Lyra, 5, and Jupiter, 3, with wife Cherry Seaborn—emphasized. “There’s places on this planet that I haven’t been to. I’ve never been to Greenland—I would love to go to Greenland. There’s places on this planet I would far rather go to than space.”
After all, the 34-year-old wants to see his two children grow up a whole lot more than he wants to perform on a rocket.
“I’m not going to risk that for a Guinness World Record something or other,” he noted. “I’m not going to risk my kids not having a dad.”
But while Ed had no interest in taking his musical talents beyond the Earth’s stratosphere, fellow musician Katy Perry had a different perspective on the matter.
In fact, she joined Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen and Kerianne Flynn on the all-female Blue Origin space launch earlier this year. And during their four minutes in space, the 40-year-old didn’t pass up the opportunity to sing “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.
“I’ve covered that song in the past,” she explained to Blue Origin of her song choice at the West Texas launch site, “and obviously, my higher self is steering the ship because I had no idea I would one day sing that in space.”
