Elton John just wanted to see less of Ed Sheeran in multiple ways.
Around the time Ed decided to take a one-year break in 2016, Elton, Ed's mentor, offered his advice to the 26-year-old star.
"He was so omnipresent I said, 'Ed, even I'm sick of you. Go away.' And he did. He just went to the Far East with his girlfriend, had a great time, put on a lot of weight, ate food and came back," Elton told Rolling Stone. "One thing I said to him when he went, I said, 'Don't put on weight,' because he's very prone to put on weight like I am."
Ed did exactly what Elton told him not to do, but Ed ended up shedding the weight and showed off his body in his "Shape of You" video.
"He came back heavy, but he lost it all for the album," the music legend said. "He just went away and had a great time. And it was the most brilliant thing he could have done, because it refreshes your soul – not that I ever did it."
Still, the way Ed did it isn't really the way Elton would have done it.
"I'm not one for going to the Far East and walking around with a backpack on; I just find that not my cup of tea," he said. "I'm too much involved with other things. But he did it, and it's the best thing he could have done. He was too omnipresent."
Still, Elton is hugely impressed by the fellow Brit.
"He reminds me of me when I first started out; his enthusiasm and his love. He's always doing something, whether he's writing his own stuff or he's writing with other people. And that's how I remember myself being in 1970 when I first came to America," Elton told the pub. "It was just all systems go. Nothing was impossible. You're working on adrenaline and [the] sheer fact that you're a success. I mean, he started out playing people's living rooms, busking, doing all that. So he's paid his dues."