Ed Sheeran has said he doesn’t feel accepted by his “pop peers”, claiming that many “actively want [him] to fail”.

The singer-songwriter last month released his fourth studio album ‘=’, which scored him the fifth UK Number One record of his career. He’s said to take the LP on a mammoth stadium tour next summer.

During an interview on a recent edition of the Halfcast Podcast, Sheeran explained: “In terms of people that actually root for me and want me to win… I know so many artists who, whenever I win, scoff, and actually, actively want me to fail.

“But they would never tell me, I just know. I hang around with people and I hear things.”

Elsewhere, Sheeran hailed past collaborator Stormzy as “the most good-hearted successful person I know” who is “genuinely is overjoyed for my success”.

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“I feel like my own section [of the music industry] that I’m meant to be part of don’t like me,” Sheeran said. “And they don’t rate my music.”

He continued: “It’s quite telling that Dave and Stormzy are both emailing me saying that they like my album, but none of my pop peers are. That’s quite telling.”

You can watch a clip of the conversation above and find the full podcast here.

Sheeran has faced criticism over his huge success throughout the years, most famously from Noel Gallagher. Back in 2015, the former Oasis musician said he “can’t live in a world where Ed Sheeran is headlining Wembley”.

Last week, however, Richard Ashcroft said people should “stop knocking” the star and instead “celebrate” his triumphs. “The problem is that we don’t celebrate when people are doing well in music,” Ashcroft told The Sun.

“Look at Ed Sheeran, I’m buzzing at how huge he is here and in America. We can be too cynical about people who are doing all right. Let’s stop knocking him. He’s British and I know how hard it is to be huge in America.”