Well, it has been a while since I did a song review, hasn't it? And since I last did one, a lot has happened. The presidency was official, Internet was losing their sh*t about The Oscars *I was glad Emma Stone won Best Actress* and things were quite busy as well in music charts. "Closer" breaks the record for most amount of times in the top 5. more songs getting success due to memes and viral rhymes, and a artist made history on having 2 debuts in the top 10 in the exact same week. What's surprising is that it wasn't Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Adele, Rihanna, or even Drake that accomplished this, it was....Ed Sheeran.
Now before you start complaining at me, I will say that I don't hate Ed Sheeran, I actually like a good chunk of his songs. Even when at the time where he was known for his "White-Guy-With-Acoustic-Guitar" days. Songs like "Lego House" and "The A-Team" from his debut album "+" still hold up after re-listening to them recently. And then came his album "X" where he got more success now getting songs making the top 10 or in the case of "Thinking out Loud" at number 2. If I made a best hit songs list for 2014, then "Don't" might have a shot of making the top of the list. I like the song that much. After success in 2014 and 2015, Ed takes a year off in 2016 where we heard nothing from him at all. Then we got people like Shawn Mendes who tried to be like Ed Sheeran, but with mixed results.
But then at the start of this year, there has been buzz of Ed return and making his third album called "÷", continuing his trend of naming his albums with Math symbols. so much buzz, that this song "Shape of you" debuted at number one on the hot 100. Originally this was gonna be a double review with this and his other top 10 debut "Castle on the Hill", but it quickly went down that hill. It's a shame because it is a really good song, but I guess it was too real and unshallow for the viewers. So we just have this song that is still number one to this day. Let's dive into it starting with...
The Production:
Continuing the trend of tropical-like-music that was popular in 2016 while having pop music involved, I will say it is still well done. It is not quiet, while not being so over the top that it ends up being annoying. I'm not gonna complain about the four cords as I have come to accept that it will be in almost a lot of pop songs each year from now on. I do like the production overall, but you can still have a bad song with it as shown last year, so let's continue on with.....
The Performer:
I believe that Ed Sheeran has found the balance with his vocal range in his songs. He is a decent singer, but he has a limit on how hard he can go. Evidence shown in "Thinking Out Loud" that it doesn't always work where he try's to sound rock hard with his vocals, but he takes a more subtle approach in this song and it smoothly works. In the verses, he sounds calm and ready and saves the high pitching for the chorus, it's a nice balance.
The Lyrics
The one thing Ed usually excels at, is the writing. He can be a good story-teller and his writing can be on point and smart. Here he talks about how he met a girl at a bar and starts dancing with her, which them blooms into a relationship while talking about he loves her body and how she works. Ed says that originally he wrote this song for Rihanna which shows in the talks about clubs, bars, and loving with people for their bodies. Which he says in the chorus a few times. It still works as he also talks about how the relationship goes with going on a date after a week and talking about their families. There is still some weird or off lines like how he says that his bedsheets smell like her and seems to take some pleasure from it. A little too much information there buddy. And then, there was the "Come on be my baby" part which is said for a breakdown almost like Meghan Trainor's "No" where there she was saying that she was untouchable. Ugh. It's not great but I'll take begging over unconvincing arrogance.
Final Conclusion:
I'll admit that "Castle on the Hill" is the better song of the two. It has better production and more interesting writing about childhood friends and not having seen them for so long and excited to see them again. With that said, "Shape of You" is still a good song. It has the vocal performance and writing that goes well with the tropical house beat. It's also a better Rihanna song then anything Rihanna does recently. Weird that it always happens.
Ranking: 8/10
If anything, this should be a strong lead into his ÷ album. If this is a sign, then Ed Sheeran should be a strong year even with competition against Katy Perry, The Weeknd, and Taylor Swift around. And, I'm cool with that. Good job dude.
Thanks for listening. I'll see you all in the next episode where I take a look at the cast of Survivor: Game Changers. Take Care.
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