Ed Sheeran and his famous fiery locks have been leading the iTunes top albums chart for weeks. He is known as this generation’s best and biggest hopeless romantic, and with his newest album, X or Multiply, he seems to be cementing his place at number one.
The album mixes his usual styles beautifully, flowing from rap in “Take It Back” to pop with Pharrell Williams in “Sing” to a soul-rock-pop mixture in “Runaway.” Sheeran demonstrates his skill for what Billboard calls, “Shrugging off the conventions of mainstream pop while still managing to enjoy its successes.”
The first single that was released from this album was “Sing.” This sent fans into a frenzy, angry that his style had been compromised by his fame and tour with pop star Taylor Swift. American Songwriter gave the track 2.5 out of 5 stars, and suggested the poor outcome of the song may be due to the process of “combining the two artists’ individual styles,” and what makes each artist interesting got lost along the way.
Thankfully, once the full album was released, fans’ nerves were quelled. The first song of the album, “One,” takes Sheeran’s fans back to his old style in his first few EPs. The style of “One” has been tried and true for Sheeran, but it still shows his growth as an artist. He chose a perfect tune to begin with, quenching his fans’ thirst for his singer-songwriter style, which is continued with the second track on the album, “I’m a Mess.” The following track is “Sing,” which almost ruins the listener’s buzz, but thankfully the skip button is always available.
“Don’t” was another song Sheeran released before the official release of his album. The song is a little petty, considering he said in an interview that the song is about “someone who’s well-known,” and continues to beat around the bush that the tune is about his short-lived relationship with Ellie Goulding. No matter who the song is really about, the lyrics don’t follow Sheeran’s usual tone. Unlike most of Sheeran’s songs, it’s hard to relate to since most of us have never been on a large-scale tour, fooled around with a famous singer and had her cheat on you with someone on the same hotel floor. The lyrics are so specific to his own experiences, it sounds more like a diary than a pop hit.
He completes his album with “I See Fire,” a tune written for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” According to Examiner.com, Sheeran and Peter Jackson are close, and when Sheeran was at dinner at Jackson’s house, they exchanged gifts – Jackson’s daughter received one of Sheeran’s guitars, and Sheeran received a sword from “The Hobbit.” Sheeran called this the “coolest day” of his career. This put the two in touch, and soon Sheeran followed with the credit tune for “The Hobbit.” According to MTV, Sheeran had the opportunity to show off his musicality as he played all the instruments, sans cello. It is a prime choice to finish the album and beautifully ties in all of Sheeran’s talents.
While the album has its ups and downs, it showcases the singer-songwriter genre wonderfully and is a true example of some of Sheeran’s greatest work to date.
