Ed Sheeran is giving Sheerios around the globe two huge reasons to celebrate with the release of two brand new singles today, Jan. 6. “Castle on the Hill” and “Shape of You” are the first two tracks to go live from Sheeran’s upcoming third studio album ÷. During his BBC Radio 1 co-hosting gig this morning, the ginger-haired pop superstar revealed that he almost gave the latter song to Rihanna.

“When I was writing this song, I was like, this would really work for Rihanna,” Sheeran said. “And then I started singing lyrics and putting man to man on the jukebox and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s not really going to sing that is she.’ And we sort of decided half way through we were just going to make it for me.”

Sheeran co-hosted the popular British radio show with Scott Mills and Chris Stark for two hours and he even played the new tracks live. He confirmed his new album’s title is indeed ÷, but, he wouldn’t give up its official release date. Oh, snap!

In case you missed it (the broadcast started at 2 a.m. ET this morning) here are five more interesting tidbits from Sheeran’s spot on the show.

No One Really Likes Ed Sheeran in Japan

When asked how he managed to stay “low key” during his time off. Sheeran said he went to Australia and it “didn’t really stay low key there” but no one really reads the Australian papers in England. He also went to Japan and noted, “No one really cares about me in Japan. There’s like two people I know that like me in Japan.” What?! Can we even imagine that?

He Purposely Planned New Music for the New Year

Sheeran told his Radio 1 co-hosts he waited until the New Year to release new music because everything feels “cluttered” at the end of the year because people often release albums to get Christmas sales. He was originally going to release his album last September but decided to avoid “the herd” of new records and wait until New Year.

“There was an element to leaving it to the New Year so it could be fresh,” he said. The co-hosts joked that loads of people on Twitter are already thanking him for coming back to save 2017. After listening to his two new fantastic tracks, we’d have to agree!

“Castle on the Hill” is a “Love Song for Suffolk”

Ed Sheeran grew up in Suffolk, England and he paints a really stunning picture of the lush hills in his nostalgic new track “Castle on the Hill.” He dubbed it a “love song for Suffolk” for the Radio 1 co-hosts. The sentimental song starts off with the lyrics Sheeran teased earlier this week on Twitter. “When I was six years old I broke my leg/I was running from my brother and his friends.”

He also dished that it was the second song completed for the album and he’s listened to it more times than anything else. And, friends from his high school were cast in the music video for the track.

At the time of this writing, the lyric video has already over 1.3 million views on YouTube, mere hours since it’s posting.

The “Game of Thrones” Cast Heard New Songs at His House

Sheeran said in addition to playing new songs for his best mates, sometimes he plays them at “random” to find out what people think. One example he gave is when “Game of Thrones” cast members came to his house after a party and he asked them, “Do you want to hear some new songs?”

James Blunt Asked to Blame Him for the Scar on His Face

Sheeran grabbed some headlines last year after getting cut in the face with a sword. He can’t really talk about the incident (that presumably involved Princess Beatrice) but he did say he likes it and thinks it’s “quite rugged.” He also said fellow British pop star James Blunt asked him to blame him for it. Sheeran and Blunt share the same label and management team and have reportedly spent a lot of time together. Sheeran called the “Beautiful” singer “a really nice guy.”

Keep up to date on Ed Sheeran here at AXS.