New album proves he is the tofu of pop music.



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Ed Sheeran

A plate of baked tofu.

Europa Press News / Europa Press via Getty Images

The best idea in the convention of the terrible idea that is the film Yesterday was to cast Ed Sheeran into the animal role of benevolent celebrity. (Initially, the filmmakers wanted Chris Martin from Coldplay, which would have been a much more terrible idea.) Yesterday is mainly in an alternative universe in which the Beatles did not exist but where the music and everything else was almost identical. And yet, when a lone guy of modest talent and inverted charisma begins to interpret a mix of Beatles random songs throughout their career, regardless of their style and social context, fashion, the upheaval of the 1960s or the dominant musical tastes of today. – he is quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in the world. With a little help from his friends, mainly Ed Sheeran. Yet, among all these implausible and illogical cultural premises, nothing is more unlikely than Sheeran, who is actually one of the greatest stars in the world in real life.. So, you know, why not the Beatles thing?

As the award-winning variety show proves, this new album of duets and trios with stars and rising stars from all over the musical spectrum – coming Friday under the unforgettable title Collaborative project n ° 6Sheeran is a walking definition of the word easyin his worst and best senses. His main asset is his ability to access a seemingly bottomless reservoir of contemporary centrist melodism and lightened rhythm reminiscent of Elton John vaguely reminiscent of his prodigious 1970s climax, albeit for a less melodic era – and without Bernie Taupin to provide more substantial words than those of Sheeran. usually disposable words, sometimes laughable. The fact that Sheeran looks like a teddy bear with orange tufts and a joke stuffed with incongruous tattoos can make his intrepid heart status difficult to credit, but it softens his clearly implacable workaholic ambitions. It has an adult version of the non-threatening lure of a member of a group of boys without the emotional damage of the star teenager. He has the affable familiarity of your favorite fourth or fifth member of your group of friends, the guy who will make you wince when he does his fre-guy-rap-type-white schtick, but he makes up for it by shopping discreet. another round of cider. You may be wondering how well you know him and if you really like cider. Maybe he could ask you for your order next time.

Sheeran is a walking definition of the word easy, in his worst as in his best the senses.

All this would explain why Sheeran is quite popular, but that's not what he is. Instead, it is massive. His last major version, ÷ (alias To divide), was the world's best-selling album in 2017. Drake is the only rival with him as the king of all music streaming services. He makes records as one of the most successful tour groups of all time, although Sheeran's concerts consist of singing and playing acoustic guitar through a range of loop pedals, with predefined rhythms, while light shows and video projections strive to produce it seems like more is happening. Low overhead costs are one of the reasons his tours are so profitable, but it's also because he just plays more dates than his competitors.

The disproportionality of Sheeran's celebrity in relation to his musical and artistic ruse makes him a mockery grass, as evidenced by the essentials of this article up to now. Many snobbery of music critics have been eroded by the consumerist pluralism of the Internet, by a broader policy of cultural representation and by a renewed investment in pleasure, as the least literally an auditor can ask. But we can always come together to chase the piss of a white and straight British, to the right cheek, who is sufficiently inspired by his sincere love for hip-hop to update his category and make a good one again acoustic singer-songwriter, on tunes of over $ 225,000 a day. The answer is that he is almost offensive and offensive – at least as long as he is not offended by his lyrical propensity for passive-aggressive romantic "nice gentile" blackmail, which has never been better understood than in comedy. televised music so dearly gone. Crazy ex-girlfriend, with his parody of Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" as a "Let's Have Intercourse" negation ballad.

The very way Sheeran heads to the top of pop celebrity is cracking believers and making fun of his nose (in the middle of his thorny hair) skeptics, that's what his fans adore at home. There has probably never been a better summary of this ethics than in the video of his opening duet with Khalid, "Beautiful People": "There is a flagrant white couple, fallen in the middle of a living Instagram, characterized by a young and hot ostentatious consumption, which recalls the promotional sequences of Fyre Festival before the fraudulent truth of this scam is revealed. All the while, our man and our down-to-earth wife resist all the nonsense of bottle style and are only looking for a cup of hot chocolate before bedtime. "In the world of gorgeous people / Champagne and rolled notes / Prénups and broken houses / Surrounded, but always alone," scolds Sheeran – "Let's leave the party." It's a well-chosen fix, with the support of Khalid, the message sounds right.

But for an interwoven album of celebrity cameos, it's ironic how hate-filled is the theme. This is the main motive, of course, in the meeting between Sheeran and Justin Bieber, "I Don's Care," which came out in May to be at the top of the UK charts and which was not retained at the same place in the United States only by the hegemony of 'Old Town Road. "Do not think I'm at the party," Sheeran grinned. "Who wants to integrate anyway?" The piece with Travis Scott, "Antisocial", is actually a festive song, but the main point is that Sheeran does not want anyone at the party to contact or talk to him. I understand that he's a little introverted, but I do not buy him quite. One of Sheeran's great assets as a collaborator is that his unconventional style allows him to blend in with almost any wallpaper pattern, integrating as well with the Rolling Stones as he does with Taylor Swift or the Weeknd or the London Grime stars with whom he worked for the independent band Collaboration project n ° 5 EP that he released just before signing, to which the title of this album pays tribute. And it's obvious that no one keeps the same Sheeran concert program if they are really so opposed to the crowds.

To divide Sheeran is the most accomplished and accomplished series of songs to date, with a recurring theme around her family history. In 2018, the documentary making-of Songwriter, he admitted that he thought that this might not be only his climax up to now, but his climax, his period. So, this album is not only a victory lap, but perhaps a blocking tactic before Sheeran is confronted with this next big creative empty space. It's the furthest thing from Slapdash, with almost all the tracks that have been produced by Max Martin, Shellback, Benny Blanco, Boi-1da and British stars Steve Mac and Fred. But Sheeran really needs all the talent of the guests here, because most of the time, he does not seem to have much in mind, aside from the time he spent away from home, "watching over a thousand nights, "as he says. his title here with Meek Mill and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and wishing someone will take him "Take Me Back to London" (on the track starring movie star Grimsey Stormzy). Alternatively, he thinks of the success of these tours ("A half-gross billi on the To divide Tour / Yes, I'm not kidding, why would I lie? ") And cursing his skeptics:" A bird's eye view, pay my dues for a queue of two miles / No need to read reviews if you can "do not do what I do. "

When he turns his energy into a love ballad, Sheeran is rarely quite convincing, and this is especially true on the most old school piece here, his sumptuous duet "Best Part of Me" with the singer of R & B Yansas, of Arkansas, but also on "Way to Break My Heart", with Skrillex production. But most of all, these pieces are based on what the guests bring them, and all you have to do is hope that Sheeran is not too hard on Sheeran and ruin things, as he does on the metal of hair loss with Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton, "Blow," where he manages to sing, "You do something to me, you do something strange / Well, jump back, talk to me, woman / You make me want to make a baby, baby. Fortunately, the video presented here, with a fully synchronized female rock band on the track, already gives the impression that the song Saturday Night Live sketch, let's suppose that this unheard-of moment was deliberately deliberate, is not it?

Among the appearances, the most memorable for me, as well as that of Yebba, are Camila Cabello and Cardi B in "South of the Border", which they give enough to help forget the geo-anatomical metaphor of the title. Similarly, Stormzy's "London" grin bars make lips crack so you can understand most, if not all, of their surroundings, namely Sheeran who protests too much against his reputation for rap. The appearance of "Cross Me" in Chance the Rapper is about the same for a song that otherwise is only there. Considering that Young Thug's album later on the album is not enough to make me forgive a song in 2019 that talks about who wins the "Feels", with a hook that makes Sheeran, 28, ring more like a premature grandfather. H.E.R. on "I do not want your money" and Ella Mai on "Put It All On Me" understands their welcome, filling the tracks with colors when they sing, while giving Sheeran's parties a flatter feel when they're not not.

Yet, all this is not as negative as it may seem, I can Number 6 on the stereo and enjoy it perfectly, as long as I do not think about it too much. It's only that the sum here is less than the parts. (Since Sheeran already had his More, Multiply, and To divide albums, it is hard not to suggest that this one can call Subtract.) Sheeran badly supports critics who, it is perfectly true, can not do what he can. But it also gives us a hard time because his music is often not very useful for what we can do: there is not much to theorize, analyze or rhapsodize here, which Most of these songs do not prevent you from being eminently listenable. It makes me a little impatient to know if he can broaden his vision as he approaches his thirties – which Ed Sheeran, who is no longer young and charming at first, will have to sing. Or maybe he'll just bring his millions of people back to the bank in the huge estate – with an on-site pub – in Suffolk with his new wife, Cherry Seaborn (their wedding is revealed on the legendary Eminem and 50 Cent, whose title is "Remember the Name", are listed here, pack it in all your states, a little home with two kids running in the yard, ob-la-di, get it To finish, it would be just the right mix of something unexpected and absolutely without history to make it mint, Ed Sheeran.

Album cover # 6 Collaborations Project

Asylum Records and Records of the Atlantic

The new album of Ed Sheeran

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