{"id":609167,"date":"2026-08-30T11:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609167\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:06:13","slug":"sade-olutola-explains-how-ed-sheeran-inspired-her-arrow-heart-ep-at-reading-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609167\/","title":{"rendered":"Sade Olutola explains how Ed Sheeran inspired her \u2018Arrow Heart\u2019 EP at Reading 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sade Olutola<\/a> explained how Ed Sheeran<\/a> inspired her \u2018Arrow Heart\u2019 EP during an interview backstage at Reading 2026.<\/a><\/p>\n

The rising south London pop artist made her first appearance at the festival earlier today (August 29), performing on The Canopy stage.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, she joined NME backstage to discuss her first EP, which was released in February. The concept for \u2018Arrow Heart\u2019 came from an idea she had as an 11-year-old in her \u201cEd Sheeran<\/a> phase\u201d \u2013 something she laughed about when reminded of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 11, I discovered Ed Sheeran \u2013 my friend Ella put me on,\u201d Olutola said. \u201cWhen he toured, he would draw the icon of what he was trying to do \u2013 like a plus sign on his guitar or a divide or multiply. Then he would also name his guitar. So I did the same thing, but I was like, \u2018I need to come up with my own cool version.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"SadeSade Olutola backstage at Reading 2026. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I drew an arrow heart on my guitar, and I called her Mexi, and I wrote a tracklist \u2013 it was at the top of my songwriting book, and it was called \u2018Arrow Heart\u2019. [Now], I thought, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m releasing my first EP now and I want to pay homage to her\u2019. That was the first time I had been ambitious to want to put out a project, even though it didn\u2019t happen [at the time].\u201d<\/p>\n

Olutola also explained the story behind the EP\u2019s opening track \u20182099\u2019, which finds her time travelling from 1625 to 2099 in the lyrics. \u201cThat song makes no sense,\u201d she laughed before explaining the story behind it. \u201cWhen I\u2019m writing songs, I translate my emotions into pictures and imagery. Right in that moment, I had just found out that my partner had been unfaithful to me, so I was feeling very angry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI associated that anger with fire, and then I was like, \u2018Oh, if it was the 1600s, they would burn me like a witch because I\u2019m so mad that I want to kill everyone.\u2019 It\u2019s so dramatic; I don\u2019t know why I did that. Anyway, I wrote that verse, and then I was like, \u2018Hmm, we\u2019ve gone in the past; let\u2019s go to the future now.\u2019 And then it was like, if it was 2099, I would still be really mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from making her debut Reading appearance, Olutola has had a packed summer on the stage. Sharing what she\u2019s realised from festival season so far, she said: \u201cIt\u2019s interesting the amount of preparation that goes into this, and then I\u2019ve done a 20-to-30 minute set, and it\u2019s over. It\u2019s like, \u2018OK, we go home now, but it\u2019s really stressful before that.\u2019 I\u2019ve grown to appreciate my team a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emerging artist also opened for Lexa Gates<\/a> at KOKO and Foushe\u00e9<\/a> as part of Harry Styles<\/a>\u2019 Meltdown<\/a> this summer. \u201cI am the biggest Lexa Gates fan. Me and my producer bonded over our love for Lexa Gates,\u201d she revealed. \u201cI love Foushe\u00e9. I\u2019m just excited. I feel like I\u2019m a little girl just living out her dream. My inner child is happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olutola performed her debut headline show at London\u2019s The Grace in June \u2013 something she said \u201cmeant the world to\u201d her: \u201cThese were hard tickets \u2013 everybody there, I knew that they came specifically to see me. I was just so grateful for that, and honestly, in disbelief that it sold out. I didn\u2019t expect that. Tears were shed, but I was very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued to explain that she treats the audience in front of her the same regardless of whether she\u2019s headlining, opening for another act, or performing at a festival. \u201cI always treat everybody like they don\u2019t know me,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I\u2019m used to having that mindset of, \u2018Nobody here knows me\u2019, I\u2019m always trying to think about the most entertaining thing I could do, like crowd interactions and stuff. So I bring that over into my own shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading 2026 continues today with performances from Dave<\/a>, Raye<\/a>, Gunna<\/a>, Viagra Boys<\/a>, Sombr<\/a>, Jade<\/a>, Radio Free Alice<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n

Check back at NME here<\/a> for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading & Leeds 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sade Olutola explained how Ed Sheeran inspired her \u2018Arrow Heart\u2019 EP during an interview backstage at Reading 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278,641],"class_list":["post-609167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}