EXCLUSIVE! Passenger calls friend & musician Ed Sheeran 'inspiring': 'He's always so fascinated and...'

Michael David Rosenberg aka Passenger, known for songs like ‘Let Her Go’,‘Simple Song’, ‘Anywhere’, ‘Sword from the Stone’ and ‘Life’s For The Living’, is making his debut performance in India this year. Ahead of the tour, the English indie folk singer, songwriter and musician shared what to expect from his India tour and with whom he would love to collaborate.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Why it took so long for you to arrive in India?

I’m so sorry, man. I know it’s been I never I never thought it would take so long. But here we are in 2025. Yeah, it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do over the years. We’ve had so many messages from Indian fans asking the same question. I apologise. But I’m so looking forward to coming this year. I’m finally coming and seeing you guys.

What fans should expect from your debut performance?

I think the big thing to know is that I don’t play with the band. I just play on my own.
It’s just me and a guitar. So although the concerts can be big. I think it feels very intimate. I think it feels very natural and honest and intimate, hopefully.

Apart from Let Her Go, songs like ‘Simple Song’, ‘Anywhere’, ‘Sword from the Stone’ and ‘Life’s For The Living’ , have that emotional weight which deeply resonates to music lovers. So while making these kinds of tracks, you put your mind to it in such a way, or it comes out naturally to you?

I think it I think all of my songs come very naturally to me. I think that’s what I learned a long time ago that to write a good song, you just have to be as honest as possible. Just try and write a song that really, really means something to you and that you’re very proud of. And I think if you do that, then the likelihood is that the song will relate to other people.
You know, I think we’re not that different. I don’t think we feel that differently. So, I think if, as a writer, if you’re able to portray some really honest emotion into a song, then I think people will resonate with that.

It is a song which is enjoyable, but at the very same time, it is very sensitive. People get very sensitive about it. So how do you make it because there are very few songs which can capture emotions and hearts.

I know. Let Her Go is a mad song. Like I’ve written songs my whole life, and I can’t tell you why that song has done what it’s done. You know, it’s just this kind of magic three minutes that seems to speak to everybody around the world and continues to. I feel very lucky to have sort of been in the right place in the right time to kind of define that song. And it’s opened so many doors for me. So I feel very grateful to that song. And yeah, I’m constantly amazed by its journey.

You have achieved so much with several of your songs being global chartbusters. But can you share your feelings when your first track emerged as a runaway hit

Yeah, it’s a strange feeling, because, you know, at the time, I’d been busking for years. I think when I was a lot younger, I dreamed of being a pop star with number one hits and all that kind of stuff. And as I got older, and as I realised how the world and the music industry worked, I kind of understood that that was very unlikely. And actually, I was just going to go busking, I was going to play in small pubs and just for people that wanted to listen. And that was going to be enough. And that was going to be okay. And I think then when it did happen, eventually, it was such a crazy full circle moment. And just a mad thing to really experience. It feels very surreal. After years and years of busking and playing in pubs and feeling so far away from any kind of commercial success, to then have this song, just go completely mad around the world. It was, I can’t really explain it. It was completely and utterly insane. Really enjoyable, but also quite, quite, I don’t know, disorientating as well. (4:47) Right. And you know, like you said, life comes full circle.

In today’s time, we have various genres of music. Everyone has their own taste. But do you think like somewhere it is very important to make sure, to make a music which is not only enjoyable, but also gives some kind of relaxing mood or some kind of emotional messages?

Yeah, I think different people want different things from music. And we turn to different songs, different artists at different times. I think, yeah, I feel like you should make the kind of music that makes you happy, that kind of that fills your soul, you know. And whether that’s really meaningful, really deep stuff, whether it’s EDM, whether it’s pop music, whether it’s classical, it doesn’t really matter. I think it’s just important to make the music that fulfils you. That’s all you need to do as an artist. And as a listener, all you need to do is listen to the music that fulfils you. So I think it’s different for everybody. But yeah, important just to stay true to yourself. And, you know, the way you said, like, it’s important to stay true to yourself.

If given a chance, that will make you go out of your comfort zone and make a song which is completely opposite to you, that you know, no one will believe that it’s your composition, actually. Then what kind of genre will it be?

It’s a good question. You know what I absolutely love, and this is not a very fashionable thing to say, I love 80s power ballads, like Foreigner, or like Chicago or stuff like that. So, yeah, big sort of rock ballads from the 80s. I would love to make a 80s power ballads album one day. And it would be very different to what I do. And people would be very shocked. We’ll see if I have time to do that. But yeah, we all will be excited for that.

Any artists from India or any part of the globe, with whom you to like to collaborate?

Yeah, it’s such a good question. I mean, there are so many people I would love to collaborate with. And I think, yeah, one day it would be really fun to do some kind of global music album and work with a ton of different artists from around the world. I mean, Ed is the master at that. It is so inspiring. I’ve known him for so many years. And from being young, he’s always just been so fascinated and so interested in music from all over the world. And I love watching him now just kind of, yeah, working with all sorts of different artists. It’s really cool.
So yeah, it’s very inspiring. I would love to do something similar one day. Well, we would be excited for that.

Passenger’s tour is produced and promoted by BookMyShow Live. The musician will bring his iconic voice to Delhi-NCR on November 19, Mumbai on November 21, and Bengaluru on November 22, 2025.

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