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Ed Sheeran is opening up about a secret in the music industry. The singer, currently on his Mathematics tour, revealed that many artists rely on lip-syncing during live shows—even if they never acknowledge it publicly.
The Grammy-winning star appeared on the Beta Squad YouTube channel, where he was tasked with identifying the voices of major pop icons. During the segment, one of the contestants admitted she would consider lip-syncing in a concert if her voice wasn’t strong enough. Sheeran quickly responded, “I don’t know if a professional singer would admit to miming.”
Pressed further by another contestant, who asked if many artists do it anyway, the Shape of You hitmaker confirmed, “They don’t admit to it though.”
When asked if he had ever used backing tracks or mimed on stage, Sheeran made it clear that wasn’t possible in his case. “I can’t get away with it because it’s me with a loop pedal and a guitar,” he explained, before adding that he never cancels a show because of vocal strain. “I’d always push through, even if it was, like, slightly raspy.”
Sheeran emphasized that while some singers do mime, it’s something they would never publicly confess to. “I feel like if you are a professional singer, even if you do mime—because there are professional singers that mime—but they would never admit that they mime.”