KINGSTON, Jamaica — Dancehall artiste Ishawna and Grammy-winning UK singer Ed Sheeran have announced the release of their new track together.

The long awaited single, titled ‘Brace It’, is expected to be released on Friday, June 24.

In a post on Instagram, an excited Ishawna said: “Me and (Ed Sheeran) want to turn things up a bit…Brace it [will be] out this Friday.”

The collab came to fruition after Sheeran, in an interview, said he was obsessed with Ishawna’s remix of his 2017 hit single, ‘Shape of You’.

“I was in the Caribbean and I heard like a totally different song, it’s really, really filthy. She’s just singing about her man going down on her, it was all over the Caribbean,” he said at the time before singing the song.

The clip from the interview went viral on social media and, in response, the ‘Equal Rights’ singer shared a ‘story time’ with fans.

“(Equal Rights) was never meant to be a ‘real’ song. I was just so in love with Ed Sheeran’s song and the riddim just moved me in a way I couldn’t explain… I’ve always wanted to touch on the topic and I just knew it was time… Fast forward to four years later, Ed Sheeran is singing my song word for word (and) saying it’s his favourite.”

Soon after, in an interview with Halfcast Podcast in November 2021, Sheeran revealed the two were working together.

“Ishawna’s got me singing patois with her and I was like ‘I don’t know’ and she was like ‘trust me, Kingston slang, they’re gonna f**king love it’, I’m actually going to record my bits after this,” he told interviewer ChuckieOnline.

In an IG post Wednesday to announce the release of ‘Brace It’, Sheeran said: “Me and (Ishawna) made a tune after me being in love with her Equal Rights cover of Shape Of You. I love her, and loved working with her, Brace It comes out on Friday and I hope you love it too.”