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Ed Sheeran performed a special Christmas Live Lounge for Radio 1 this week, despite the best efforts of The Chainsmokers...

Ed confessed to being hungover from a drinking session with the US duo the night before his performance, in a chat with the morning after.

"I got defeated by the Americans yesterday, I took The Chainsmokers out," he said.

"They can drink more than me."

But perhaps he can explain away the Christmas drinking as preparation for his Live Lounge cover of The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl's Fairytale of New York.

However, Ed's performance (with Anne-Marie) was clearer and far more sober-sounding than Shane MacGowan's iconic, whiskey-soaked drawl.

Ed's no stranger to Christmas performances, however, having once taken the iconic role in his school nativity of the fourth wise man. Wait, hang on...

"I was the fourth wise man because they felt bad about not having me in it," he explained.

"I thought it was weird and one year there was six wise men when I went to one. I think schools just make it up."

Ed has achieved a lot in his career but the one thing that has escaped him so far is a Christmas No.1. He's hoping to change that this year with his song Perfect, which was recently re-recorded with Beyoncé and opera singer Andrea Bocelli, to make sure all bases are covered.

"There's a reason I shot the video in the snow when the song has absolutely zero to do with Christmas," he admitted before his Live Lounge.

"I know there's a campaign to get Wham! to No.1 and Mariah Carey is streaming like crazy. It's something I wouldn't be disappointed if I didn't get, but I’m definitely going for it."

Ed performed the solo version of Perfect during his Christmas Live Lounge session, but revealed the story behind the track and why Beyoncé was his first (and initially only choice of collaborator).

"I played her the song when I wrote it in 2015 and I remember her liking it back then," he told Clara.

"I was always planning on releasing Perfect at Christmas but my label said no one would be interested in the song by then, because it had been out for nine months and I needed a remix.

"Literally the only person I’d wanted to work with for the longest time was Beyoncé and I didn't want to put anyone on it if it wasn't Beyoncé.

"She was pregnant with twins at the time but I reached out, she said yes and it happened."

He added that it took her just a day to reply to his email but six months for the pair to hit the studio together, due to the birth of her children Rumi and Sir Carter.