Grammy Award winning singer Justin Bieber says his friend and singer Ed Sheeran is an inspiration.

The 22-year-old Canadian singer, who has a string of celebrity friends in his inner circle, including Usher, Chris Brown and Floyd Mayweather, worked with the British songwriter on the track "Love Yourself", which features on his album "Purpose" and hit song "Cold Water", which he recorded with Major Lazer and MO.

Bieber says he feels inspired whenever he listens to Sheeran's music and says the two are becoming friends, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"Me and Ed aren't super close but he's someone who I consider a friend and I really appreciate his music. I appreciate who he is as a person. He's an inspiration to a lot of young people - he makes awesome music that people are inspired by and that people laugh to, cry to and I think it's important in music to have those people who bring the emotion out of you," Bieber said on a radio channel.

The 'Sorry' hitmaker also shared his favourite tracks by Sheeran.

"That 'Thinking Out Loud' song, that's my song. There's something about him that just makes you like him. He's very likeable and very, very talented," Bieber added.