Rafa and Ed Sheeran Share “Thinking Out Loud” in Heart’s Studio

Rafa performs ‘Thinking Out Loud’ in Heart’s radio studio before Ed Sheeran joins the singing. The recording brings a young guitarist and the song’s original performer into the same close setting, with their voices sharing the familiar melody.

Heart’s official upload identifies the encounter and explains that Rafa had been singing to his grandfather over Zoom during lockdown. That background connects the studio invitation with an existing family musical routine, rather than presenting an unidentified child at a concert.

The radio setting keeps the performance at a small scale. Microphones, guitar and the studio desk remain visible around the singers, giving the encounter a different frame from a full band show while allowing the melody to remain central.

Sheeran’s arrival changes who takes part in the song without changing its musical basis. Rafa continues with familiar material as another voice joins him, and the shared performance becomes the point of connection between the guest and the young singer.

The official clip below preserves the introduction and encounter around the music. Watching that sequence keeps the singing connected to the studio occasion, allowing the arrival and shared phrases to develop in their original order within the recording.

Watch the performance

The guitar provides a practical thread beneath the voices. Its continuing accompaniment gives the singers a harmonic framework, helping the song maintain its direction while the interaction around the microphones becomes part of the recorded studio scene.

A familiar melody makes that collaboration easier to follow. Its returning shapes offer common material for both singers, so the listener can hear the change in vocal texture without needing a different composition to explain the meeting between them.

The two voices have different sounds and different roles in the occasion. Rafa begins as the invited performer, and Sheeran joins the material he is already singing, allowing the encounter to retain the young singer’s place within the musical exchange.

The close camera view also preserves their interaction. The musicians occupy the same working space, with the microphone positions and guitar giving the song an immediate physical setting rather than the distance associated with a large concert stage.

Heart’s recording is both a musical clip and a document of the visit. The station supplies the surrounding context, while the sung phrases give the occasion its musical centre and connect the introduction with the performance that follows it.

The family background explains why the song had already become part of Rafa’s routine. The studio encounter extends that connection into another setting, keeping music at the centre without requiring assumptions about the participants’ feelings beyond the recorded interaction.

The complete sequence is useful because the arrival alone does not explain the musical exchange. The singing that follows it shows how the shared melody continues, giving the encounter a performance context as well as a recognisable guest appearance.

Sheeran’s official ‘Thinking Out Loud’ video below offers a separate presentation of the song. Its produced setting gives the melody another visual and musical frame, providing a comparison with the close radio-studio exchange rather than another angle on the visit.

Heart’s own live performance recording adds another studio interpretation by Sheeran. It belongs to a separate presentation, allowing the song to be heard with another performance focus while the central clip remains the shared appearance with Rafa.

Those versions make the song’s continuing identity easier to hear across different occasions. The arrangement and participants change, but the returning melody supplies a common thread between the original video, another studio performance and this particular musical encounter.

Rafa and Sheeran’s shared song gives Heart’s studio visit its musical shape. The recording keeps the guitar, voices and introduction together, preserving the familiar ballad as the connection between the young performer and the guest who joins him.