during his headline set in the bbc introducing tent at the glastonbury festival 2011, sheeran revealed that "you need me, i don't need you" would be his second single. the single was premiered on bbc radio 1 as zane lowe's "hottest record in the world" on 6 july 2011. he performed the song live for the sbtv youtube channel, in which he made an entire song, backing track included, in just 5 minutes using a guitar and loop pedal. this version included lyrics from sheeran's cousin—rapper alonestar (jethro sheeran)—and reggae group laidblak, but the official single release in 2011 included just lyrics written by ed sheeran himself.