Ed Sheeran
“+”
Ed Sheeran, a 21-year-old from England, came out with his first album titled ‘+’ in 2011 and it took off not only in the U.K., but around the world. This platinum album shows us Sheeran’s acoustic, singer-songwriter style and his phenomenal musical abilities.
1. The A Team: This is the infamous Ed Sheeran song that everyone always hears on the radio. While it’s a good song, it’s extremely overplayed. Sheeran’s soft vocals and the strumming guitar causes this song to be mistaken as a love song—but it’s really about a girl who’s a prostitute and a drug addict. I love this song, though!
2. Drunk: The second song on this album has more of a beat, but still has the same vibe as the first, just a little less intense. Nevertheless, I find it pretty catchy, even though he’s singing about being drunk. Not the best song on the album, but I can definitely appreciate it.
3. U.N.I.: This is one of my favorites on the album. Sheeran does this great thing with tempo in this song, where he starts slow, speeds up his words and slows back down for the chorus. When he sings super fast, it almost sounds like he’s rapping to a nice guitar-based tune.
4. Grade 8: Grade 8 is one of the more upbeat and lighthearted songs on the album. Since this album is pretty depressing, to say the least, this is kind of a breath of fresh air. He uses his usual beat and guitar and compares his love for a girl to a naive eighth grade love.
5. Wake Me Up: Slowing down the album quite a bit, Sheeran uses a piano this time instead of his trusty guitar. I really love the lyrics in this song as well. The whole song is very stripped down with only Sheeran’s voice and a piano; which I like for a change in the album.
6. Small Bump: The beginning of this song really sets the mood and puts you in a coffee shop or right at an acoustic show–at least to me. This song kept me guessing as to what Sheeran is singing about, but even so, it’s a very chill song that makes you sway.
7. This: In my opinion, this is one of the better songs on this album in terms of his vocals. Even though it’s a little breathy at times and the lyrics don’t grab me as much as some of the others, this is a typical Ed Sheeran song that I don’t think a lot of artists today could pull off.
8. The City: This song kind of threw me when I first listened to it. The beat-boxing and unique compilation of instruments and tempos started to grow on me after I listened to it a few more times, but it’s not my favorite on the album.
9. Lego House: This song is everything “Ed Sheeran” to me. By picking up the beat a bit, adding some witty, lovey-dovey lyrics and some great vocals, this song stole my heart. This is up there as one of my favorites on this album.
10. You Need Me, I Don’t Need You: Sheeran uses a bunch of different techniques from the previous songs and basically throws them all together and makes something pretty great. Being the fastest song on the album, the lyrics and articulation of them goes along with the vibe I get from this.
11. Kiss Me: These last two songs are by far my favorites on the album. ‘Kiss Me’ is also a pretty stripped down track, which I love. Unlike some of the other songs on this album, this is definitely one to sing to your girlfriend, boys.
12. Give Me Love: This song is very different from the others on the album. It has a hard, slow beat and has a chanting part going on towards the end of the first song. After about five minutes, the song breaks and the album ends with an acapella version of an Irish tune called “The Parting Glass,” which shows off Sheeran’s singing abilities perfectly.
4.5 out of 5 owls
