Ed Sheeran reflects on US awards shows, says they create an 'uncomfortable atmosphere'

Washington [US], September 16 : Singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran recently revealed his feelings about awards shows, days after the VMAs and compared American and British award shows, saying the former had an 'uncomfortable atmosphere' with people wanting others to fail.
According to People magazine, during an interview on Audacy's 'The Julia Show', the 'Shivers' singer said, "The room is filled with resentment and hatred toward everyone else and it's quite an uncomfortable atmosphere."
"All the artists are sweet people, but they're like, surrounded by entourages that want them to win too, so it's one artist surrounded by ten people and another artist surrounded by ten people and everyone is kind of giving each other the side-eye," he added.
However, Sheeran did clarify that the atmosphere he was referring to was not specific to the MTV Video Music Awards, which took place on Sunday.
He said, "It's nothing to do with MTV or the award show, it's at all the other awards shows [too]; Billboards, GRAMMYs... AMAs. It's just lots of people wanting other people to fail and I don't like that." He also added that this isn't something he's ever experienced back home.
"In England, our award shows are just like, everyone gets drunk and no one really cares who wins or loses, it's just sort of a good night out," the "Bad Habits" singer said.
According to Sheeran, he isn't the only one who feels this way.
He said, "People get the same feeling as me at those award shows. I've spoken to people and they're like, 'I just felt really depressed afterward.' The atmosphere is just not nice... It's a really, really horrible atmosphere to be in there. I always walk away feeling sad and I don't like it."
Sheeran performed his newest single 'Shivers' at the VMAs on Sunday. This was his first performance at the award show since 2017 when he performed a medley of his smash hit 'Shape of You' with Lil Uzi Vert's 'XO Tour Llif3'. Before hitting the stage, Sheeran was presented by Rita Ora, who described him as the "best person ever".
'Shivers' is Sheeran's third release from his upcoming album titled '=' (and pronounced 'Equals'), set to release on October 29. Sheeran had previously shared on Instagram that he had started working on the record in June 2017 and that it had been "a long, long process" having it come to fruition, as per People magazine.