Blow

Album: No. 6 Collaborations Project (2019)
Charted: 60
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Songfacts®:

  • The closing track of No.6 Collaborations Project finds Ed Sheeran ending the disc on a high-energy note. The '70s-influenced rocker features the English star linking up with two unlikely bedfellows: Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars. While Sheeran is a pop singer-songwriter, Stapleton leans towards traditional-leaning country, and Mars' music incorporates R&B, funk, and soul. All three stepped out of their genres to record this hard rock cut.
  • The sensual lyric is about a "foxy queen" who has got the trio feeling weak at the knees. They want to take things to another level and blow her mind – in other words give the lady an unforgettably good time.
  • Bruno Mars handled the song's entire production; he also played the lead guitar and drums on the track.
  • There is a good chance some of the lyrics refer to cocaine. During his verse, Bruno Mars hopes to appeal to the girl by enticing her with white lines in a limousine. (Both "white lines" and the "blow" song title are slang words for coke).
  • Bruno Mars directed the song's music video, which was shot at Los Angeles' legendary Viper Room club. The three singers do not feature in the clip, presumably because they couldn't coordinate their schedules. Instead they came up with a crafty solution - an all-female band performing the song, with each member channeling one of the artists. Cherish Waters, a former America's Next Top Model contestant, stands in for Sheeran, model/actress Jordan Kelly DeBarge takes on the Stapleton role, and Just Add Magic star Cheyenne Haynes replaces Mars.
  • No. 6 Collaborations Project began with an idea Sheeran had about doing a cover version of Labelle's "Lady Marmalade" with some of the biggest male pop stars, such as Bruno Mars and Justin Bieber. The plan was to echo the all-female cover recorded in 2001 for the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge by Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Lil' Kim and Pink. When Sheeran pitched the idea over the phone to Mars, the singer indicated that he would prefer they record something new together. The resulting track, "Blow," became the first one recorded for the album.
  • Though it was only a moderate hit, Sheeran has high hopes for his Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton collaboration. "I feel like when people saw Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, they were like, 'Oh, that'll sound a certain way,'" he told Rolling Stone in 2023 of the rock song. "It was so not that. At some point, someone will come across it, and it will be put in a superhero movie or something."

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