Songfacts®:

• This song lists some things Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry have done together. They include:
  
  Sleeping on the beach together
  Visiting an Irish bar in Rome
  Fumbling in Tokyo cubicles
  Sharing Cherry's father's whiskey when her grandma died
  
  On the chorus, Sheeran sings about how whenever he and Cherry "collide," she brings him to life.
• "Collide" is the eighth of 14 tracks on Equals. Sheeran told Apple Music he felt the album was "quite morose" up to then and needed an uplifting song. His first-dance wedding song was Ben Kweller's 2006 tune "Thirteen," which lists things he did with his wife. Sheeran messaged the American singer-songwriter and asked if he could record a version of "Thirteen" that details things he and Cherry have done. Kweller readily agreed.
• Sheeran told Apple Music "Collide" is a song, that "if you were at a festival, you'd be putting your hands in the air and holding a glass of cider."
• Sheeran co-wrote and co-produced the song with his go-to collaborators: Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and songwriter/producer Fred Again. Ben Kweller also gets a credit.