Hello, everyone! Yes, I know, I’m really far behind on those album reviews I said I’d be posting … but here’s a full-length review of an album, and I have a few more on the way that I’ve started working on. Just to give a bit of an update, I’m working on a review of the newest album from Lana Del Rey, as well as the collab album from JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown. I also have another album review coming up soon which will be a surprise.

But for now, I’m reviewing the newest Ed Sheeran album, –. Yes, that’s the name of the album … and now that he’s got albums called +, X, ÷, =, and – (yes, I left out No.6 Collaborations Project), I wonder what his next album will be called … ‘%’?

But on the topic of the music … well, Ed Sheeran is one of those artists whose music has received a very interesting reception. I mean, he’s been one of the biggest pop stars in the world over the past decade or so, and while that means he has a very large, passionate fanbase, it also means there’s a large amount of people who are tired of hearing his songs on the radio all the time, and who are tired of hearing people talk about Ed Sheeran … and even as someone who hasn’t listened to all of his albums, I can’t help but feel like a lot of the disliking of his music is due to people thinking they’re ‘too cool’ to like his music. And that’s not to say you have to like Ed Sheeran’s music … I mean, based on the Ed Sheeran songs/albums that I haveheard, a lot of it doesn’t really click for me. But whether consciously or subconsciously, I think there are a lot of people who want to be ‘cool’ by saying negative things about Ed Sheeran’s music, and instead praising any underground, critically acclaimed music no matter what. And I’m not trying to be too judgmental here—I mean, we’re all biased, myself included—but I just think it’s worth mentioning that I can’t help but feel like Ed Sheeran’s previous album, =, got a lot of the negative reviews it got in large part because … well, because it’s Ed Sheeran, and, ‘Oh no, it’s Ed Sheeran, this music sucks.’

I remember listening to = multiple times when it came out, and I wasn’t really a big fan of the album. Going back to it now, I also can’t say I’m a big fan of the album—it has some incredibly cringey moments, and a lot of the instrumentals sounded kind of generic to me (despite some huge exceptions)—but unlike a lot of critics, I don’t dislike that album. And again, there’s nothing wrong with disliking that album, or liking critically acclaimed music … it’s just that I can’t help but feel like the reception to that album would have been a lot more positive had Ed Sheeran’s music previously been critically acclaimed.

= has a lot of emotional song writing on it, a lot of which didn’t really do much for me, but I respect it a lot … and I know I always say I respect almost all music, but = is the kind of album where even the parts of the album that I don’t really love (or even the parts of the album I find very annoying) I at least get the appeal of, and it’s one of those albums which—even though I don’t believe in music being ‘objectively good’ or ‘objectively bad’—I kind of feel like is a better album than it is an album that I like … even if it’s not totally my cup of tea, I feel like even in my own personal opinion, it’s a very good album, if that makes any sense. But again, that’s not the point … no music is objectively good or bad. But I guess what this is all leading to is me saying that = is an album I don’t really love, and it’s very hit-or-miss for me, but it kind of gave me an optimistic feeling about this new album … and, as I expected, this album is not getting a lot of critical acclaim, but I wanted to give it a chance.

And … well, it’s a very emotional album that discusses grief, depression, and much more, and it really shows the human side of Ed Sheeran, and it’s a reminder that life can be tough for all of us, even the biggest celebrities.

But there’s a lot of emotional, personal song writing on =, and again, while I don’t dislike that album, it did feel like an album that showed promise for his next album to be one that I liked a lot more … so, how do I feel about this album?

Well … it’s the type of album where you hear it, and you instantly know it isn’t Ed ‘selling out’ or trying to make as many hit songs as possible. And there’s a real magic to Ed’s song writing on this album, which makes this album a very easy listen and a very difficult listen at the same time. But it’s got this very comforting feeling to it, and I personally like nearly every track … yeah, this album clicked for me! And I recommend you hear it, too!

So, now, I’m going to talk about the individual songs on this album, and one thing this album has in common with = is that both albums had very misleading lead singles in my opinion … I mean, I think I like “Bad Habits” more than the majority of critics, but if you only knew that song from the album and then listened to the album, you’d probably be quite surprised.

“Eyes Closed”, the lead single from this album, is a very emotional song, written about the death of a close friend, but musically it sounds totally different from the rest of the album. It’s much more of a pop song than most of the songs on this album, despite the heavy subject matter.

In my opinion a song that represents the album more, at least sound-wise, is the opening track, “Boat”, which features some great acoustic guitar and great melodies, as Ed sings about resilience, and I love the line, ‘But the waves won’t break my boat.’ I mean, it’s a very simple song, at least it seems that way to me, but it’s a very nice song that’s a great way to open the album.

But that being said, while I do like this album, for me there’s a big elephant in the room that holds this album back for me quite a bit, and I’m going to get this out of the way right now … and it’s not some consistent issue I have throughout multiple tracks that holds a bunch of these songs back for me … no, it’s an individual song, that being “Salt Water”, the second song on the album.

I want to be careful with what I say about “Salt Water”, because I really don’t want this to be taken the wrong way. I want to make it clear that I’m not saying Ed had bad intentions with this song, and I understand that different people interpret art in different ways. With that being said, though, I personally strongly dislike this song, and it’s easily my least favourite song on this album, by far. My main issue with this song is in the lyrics, in which the narrator ‘takes one step and says, “Well, here it goes”’, ‘embracing the deep’ and ‘leaving everything’, and ‘being free.’ Was this song intended to be about suicide? I’m guessing it was just a more metaphorical way of describing the end of someone’s life regardless of how the person dies, but it still comes across as if it’s about suicide. And I’m sure Ed wasn’t trying to glorify suicide here, but the optimistic, positive lyrics in a song in which the narrator is (possibly) committing suicide doesn’t sit well with me at all. When paired with this really calm instrumentation with this emotional-but-hopeful feeling to it, it gives this song a really icky feeling that really makes me want to stay the hell away from this track. Again, those are just my own personal feelings on the song, and I get that the lyrics aren’t meant literally. I understand that different people interpret art differently … but in my own personal opinion, this song is terrible.

“Life Goes On”, on the other hand, is a song that I love … and it’s another very emotional track, about the difficulty of just ‘moving on’ after the loss of a loved one, and the mellow acoustic guitar and the piano fits really well in this song. 

The next track, “Dusty”, is about Ed listening to music with his daughter the morning after a very difficult night, and enjoying the moment despite what happened the day before. And it’s a gorgeously produced song, with the percussion sounding damn near perfect in the mix, and every instrument combining together incredibly well! And the bridge brings this song to a whole different level! It’s probably my favourite track on this entire album!

“End Of Youth” is the next track, and it seems to be about growing up and realizing that not everything ends well, and that life can be very difficult … I mean, we know these things as kids, but a lot of us—at least myself—at one point barely worried at all … or at least looking back at that time in my life, it feels like I barely worried (even if I did), and sometimes it leads to a feeling of longing for the past, when everything was easier, or at least now it seems that it was. But even with situations you’ve been in yourself … you can’t relive the past, so you don’t always know exactly how much more difficult it could’ve been back then, even if it just seems like ‘the good old days.’ I know I’m kind of getting off topic, but the point I’m trying to make is I really like this song, especially the line, ‘We spend our youth with arms and hearts wide open, and then the dark gets in and that’s the end of youth.’ And the great production really elevates this song for me.

“Colourblind” features a really nice melody in the chorus, and the piano sounds great on this track. There are some interesting lyrics with some interesting imagery, and while the references to different colours does start to get slightly annoying, it’s still a nice song with great production and an interesting idea comparing life to colours.

I like the kind of rock-like instrumentation of “Curtains”, and I like how Ed in the song goes from hiding his feelings to eventually realizing it’s a good idea to open up and tell someone he’s struggling. With that being said, the kind of messy production does hold this song back for me, and I wish the guitars were less underpowered so the song could have more punch to it … overall, I’d say it’s probably one of the weaker songs here.

After another nice, mellow song in “Borderline”—which features some really nice piano and strings—we get “Spark”, which seems to focus on optimism for the future despite difficult times in the past … and while the snare sounds a bit awkward, it’s still a very good song with production I mostly like, with an airy sound—which is something I often don’t like in music, but the pianos give the instrumental some power to avoid the airy sound being too dreamy and drab.

“Vega” has some nice strings, and it seems to partially be inspired by Ed’s wife’s cancer diagnosis during her pregnancy, and the song also seems to have to do with fame. I love the line, ‘We were made to be stars, but it burns like hell to be Vega.’ 

The following “Sycamore” also seems to be about his wife’s diagnosis. Ed said he wrote this song in a time of fear and uncertainty, and it’s such a well-written song. And I don’t mean to make this all about me, but in a review where I write about my personal feelings on this album, it’s worth mentioning that, as someone who’s often afraid of uncertainty myself, I find this song comforting, as there seems to be a feeling of optimism despite the darkness … I mean, I can nitpick about the strings being distracting, as I think the song would have worked much better without them, as a more stripped-back track, and it’s what holds me back from truly loving this song, but still … like a lot of this album, it’s another reminder that even the biggest celebrities are going through stuff, too. And it’s songs like these that represent what makes – such a good album in my opinion.

The album ends with two of its best songs in my opinion, those being “No Strings” and “The Hills of Aberfeldy”, the former of which features pianos that sound incredibly well produced, and it’s one of the most optimistic songs on the album. This song is very stripped back, and I think it really fits for this kind of late-album song with a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ feeling to it. And the closing track, “The Hills of Aberfeldy”, is such an excellent way to end the album, with great imagery, great production, and some of my favourite vocal melodies on the album, with some excellent-sounding guitar as well! The strings sound great, too, and I love how the album ends describing a strong relationship that can survive through the most difficult of challenges.

And I think the ending represents the album as a whole very well … life can be very difficult, but there’s always optimism to be found.

I mean … are there some production choices that don’t really work for me? Yeah. Can the vocal melodies be kind of boring at points? Yeah. Is there a song on this album I love as much as “Visiting Hours” from =? No. And none of the positive things I have to say about so many tracks here make me dislike “Salt Water” any less—I still very strongly dislike that song—so, with all that being said, is this an album that I truly love? I wouldn’t quite say it is, but I personally like it more than =, and like I’ve said, it’s an album that really shows the human side of Ed Sheeran. And also, in my personal opinion, it’s a very good album. And it’s getting a 7/10 from me.

But regardless of how I feel about the album, I hope Ed is doing well, and I hope his wife is healthy, and I hope his family is happy.

But back to the album … if you can get past the idea that you can’t like an Ed Sheeran album, which I really hope you can, I highly recommend you give this album a chance. And even if you think you can’t get past that mindset, I highly recommend you listen to it anyway … it might change your mind.

And with that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Boat”, “Life Goes On”, “Dusty”, “End Of Youth”, “No Strings”, “The Hills of Aberfeldy”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Salt Water”