It would be easy to dismiss Ed Sheeran as someone who has already let others take the creative reigns like so many mega-pop names have when they get big enough to start selling out stadiums and headlining festivals. He's a bonafide superstar now, and the roll out of his sophomore album, X, was accompanied by all the trappings of a major label record release: pop-up ads all over the internet heralding its impending arrival, and even a special mini-doccumentary on MTV highlighting his work on the project. With so much fanfare, it's obvious that Warner Music had a lot riding on the release, and oftentimes, when a label puts so many chips down on one name, they hedge their bets by watering down the art in order to appeal to the widest possible listener demographic. As it turns out, Ed Sheeran managed to sneak a sizable amount of fresh creativity into the album, and while it's still definitively pop-sounding, it's still got all of the same offbeat charm that his first project, +, did. There's a bunch of great music on it, and for the most part , it's a mix of folk, rock, and electronic, but there's also all sorts of other genres that make cameos here and there, with the resulting body of work benefitting from Ed's willingness to blend everything together into one, well-balanced sound where each song has a distinct heritage, but very modern identity. X flows seamlessly from track to track, so listening to all the music on the list is definitely worth it, but we've found a few standouts that are particularly noteworthy, and illustrate the kind of commitment to quality that Ed has championed since his rise to fame a couple of years ago. The first track you should cycle through is "The Man". It doesn't come as a complete shock that Ed has included a track with him rapping on it, but the way he's incorporated his lyrical dexterity into this particular song is refreshing. If you're at all familiar with Mike Skinner (more commonly known as "The Streets"), you'll instantly pick up similarities between "The Man" and Mike's work. In fact, it's hard to believe that Ed wasn't influenced in some way by The Streets, because the underlying structure is quite close to albums like Everything Is Borrowed and The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living. Granted, Ed's delivery isn't quite as deadpan, and the music itself is a bit more melodic, but the resemblance between the two is uncanny, and it's nice to see he's injecting some variety into the album. Next up is "Bloodstream". This one has a catchy beat to it, but for the most part, Ed's gone for a fully fledged folk experience, where the guitars feel like they're being played in the corner of a crowded bar on open mic night, and the songwriting is unmistakably somber and hard-edged, despite the relativity soft aesthetic. Ed has made a name for himself putting out great folk-pop in the past, so this track is right in his wheelhouse, and the artistry he displays when performing it is indeed second to none. "Bloodstream" has got a lot of the same subtle finesse as Ed's first big hit, "A Team", and while this initially feels more like one of X's deeper cuts, it's entirely possible that it could be the sleeper hit of the album once all the frontrunners have been played out on the radio. Speaking of frontrunners, it's Ed's lead-off single, "Don't", which is grabbing all the headlines for now, and while it's clear that its early prominence was the result of a conscious push to make it so, you shouldn't overlook its merit as a fantastic piece of music. It's already made the rounds on a couple big commercials, so it's entirely possible you already know the words, but take a listen with fresh ears and appreciate all the different sounds that make an appearance in it, and how Ed was able to pull everything together into one, very catchy (and very original) track. His vocals are a great balance of spoken word and outright melody, and it's clear that his songwriting skills are as sharp as ever. The stakes are always high when an artist's second album comes out, and especially when it comes from someone as shining as Ed Sheeran, but we've no doubts that X is going to be able to secure his status as an outright household name for years to come.
Ed Sheeran