With her candid, tuneful pop songs, Maisie Peters has built up a passionate fanbase that includes everyone from Taylor Swift to Lewis Capaldi.

Now, she can add Ed Sheeran to that list, as he's just signed the 21-year-old to his Gingerbread Records label.

The duo has also written a single called Psycho for Peters' forthcoming debut album, and You Signed Up For This. 

"She's an exceptional artist who continues to push her storytelling in new directions," says Sheeran.

"We had a few great writing sessions together, and from there, I knew I had to work with her."

Peters, meanwhile, can't quite believe she gets to call Sheeran her boss.

"I've loved him since his first album," she says. "I mean, who were you if you didn't try and learn I See Fire on the guitar?

"It's weird because we're friends now, but sometimes I'm still like, 'Oh wow, that's Ed Sheeran.'" 

Sheeran isn't the first musician to spot her talents. After hearing Peters cover her song, Betty, Taylor Swift got in touch last year to say, "my ears have been blessed." Grammy nominee JP Saxe, who duetted with Peters on the single Maybe Don't, calls her "someone to hold on to".

"She's able to be really vulnerable while still having a smile on her face," he says. "I love that about her music, and I appreciate that about her as a person, too."

Celebrity endorsements aside, Peters has been doing pretty well on her own.

Since emerging in 2017, her songs have amassed half a billion streams worldwide, and she's sold out major venues like London's Shepherd's Bush Empire - all without releasing an album. 

Her profile rose in 2019 when Love Island featured two of her tracks, Favourite Ex and Felt Like This, and she was about to go on tour with One Direction's Niall Horan when the pandemic struck last year. 

"It was a big, screeching halt, and it was really hard at first," she says, "But ultimately, it meant I could make the album that I've made."

Due out in August, the record charts her journey from small-town teenager to adulthood via blossoming relationships (Outdoor Pool), heartbreak (Villain), and holidays with her twin sister (Brooklyn). 

Psycho, one of three Ed Sheeran co-writes, was the last song she finished for the album. A vivid and wryly-observed pop anthem sees Peters confronting an ex who badmouths her in public but still calls her on the sly. 

"The song feels like Abba to me, which I'm obsessed with," she says. "Everything is so sharp and concise, and I think that's what makes a perfect pop song."

We caught up with Peters in her childhood home - where she was swotting for a driving test - to explore her story so far.