Fans of "Little Things" Will Be Happy About This

Though Ed Sheeran was advised by his record label to stop writing songs for One Direction, he will reportedly still contribute to the group's upcoming fourth studio album, FOUR. In an interview with U.K. radio station Capital FM on Thursday, Simon Cowell revealed that Ed Sheeran wrote a new song for One Direction called, "18." At the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival in September, band members Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik described the track as "a ballad." This is great news for fans of past Sheeran/1D collaborations like the incredibly successful, "Little Things" — a song which went on to become Sheeran's first No. 1 single in the United Kingdom.

Of course, that's exactly why Sheeran's record label, Atlantic Records, doesn't want him to write any more songs for One Direction — they're tired of him "giving away" his hits! However, Cowell thinks that Sheeran might actually enjoy writing songs for other artists. Cowell told Capital FM:

You know what I love about Ed? He's generous. He could have kept ["18"] but he loves writing hits.

He may have a point. After all, while MTV UK reports that Sheeran initially heeded his record label's advice and turned down Cowell's request to submit songs for FOUR, he eventually changed his mind. Maybe Sheeran likes the creative challenge of writing for other people. Sheeran told Australian radio station Nova that he was inspired to write "18" while taking a shower in Copenhagen (hilarious), and made a point of saying:

It's one of those songs I wouldn't have used for myself, it's written specifically for [One Direction].

Perhaps Sheeran's relationship with One Direction is mutually beneficial and should continue beyond FOUR! We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds.

FOUR will be released on Nov. 17.

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