Music Review: Divide by Ed Sheeran
Music Review: Divide by Ed Sheeran
1 July 2017
Ed Sheeran - no gimmicks, just an everyday guy.
Reviewed by Colin Lane
Ed Sheeran is the breath of fresh air that the music industry needs. Just an everyday guy with a guitar, a good voice (without being superb) who can write great songs.
No gimmicks, no special effects, no costumes or abnormal personality – the approachable guy next door who you could imagine catching up with for a coffee. He gives hope to every teenager sitting in their bedroom making music.
Divide is his third full-length studio album, and it soared to the top of the charts around the world within a week or two of release. The deluxe edition has 16 tracks, a mixture of acoustic pop songs, ballads and even a couple of Gaelic numbers – Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan both with a distinct Irish sound.
Anyone listening to FM radio over the past few months will know hits Castle On The Hill and Shape of You, both with a toe-tapping beat.
The opening track Eraser includes some rap, which Ed probably should leave to others in the future. For me, it’s in the ballads and the peeled-back songs that Ed truly shines. Perfect, with its raw vocals and heartfelt lyric is touching, as is Hearts Don’t Break Around Here, but my favourite is the light and catchy What Do I Know?.
Ed comes from a Catholic background and sang in a church choir as a boy, and these influences shine through in this lyric: “But God gave me a stage, a guitar and a song”; and “Love can change the world in a moment, but what do I know?”
Ed and his music appeals right across the ages. My 12-year-old wanted Ed Sheeran for Christmas, my 16-year-old plays his music all the time, my wife likes his songs, and my dear old mum, if she were still alive, would have been an Ed Sheeran fan as well I reckon. Some of these songs contain drinking references, one minor drug reference, and Shape of You is somewhat evocative.
However, overall this is a solid album filled with beautiful ballads and catchy pop songs, sung by a musician who doesn’t find a need to swear or write lyrics full of sexual references.
Divide is a collection of songs that will provide listening pleasure, over and over, to just about anyone. A must-have for your collection.
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