Ed Sheeran is very quickly becoming a well known and widely appreciated music artist — finally! So, this is a recommendation, from me to you: listen to his music. Just do it. “Why only recommend him, now?” you ask, “Why didn’t you tell us about him when he was a hidden gem?” The answer’s pretty simple: I’m incredibly excited to see him on the Festival Republic Stage on Friday 26th August at Leeds Festival! (It’d be pretty devastating if it didn’t excite me since I was living off pot noodles for a month after spending £200 on a weekend ticket.)
Sheeran was born February 17th 1991 and has shot to fame with his single ‘The A Team’, which debuted at number 3 in the charts. His music is a refreshing change to the usual commercialised, generic and technically altered beyond belief hits that are littering the charts today. Sheeran may only be twenty, however his quest for recognition started in 2005 when he released his EP ‘The Orange Room EP’ and later released his self titled album alongside another titled ‘Want Some?’ Unfortunately At the start of 2011, Sheeran created a collaborations album with the help of the grime artists such as Wiley, JME, Devlin and Ghetts. It’s fair to say that the ‘rapping talents’ of the collaborationists tainted the pureness of Sheeran’s voice and the attempt to appeal to the masses was all in all, a fairly unpleasant experience.
His most recent albums (Loose Change, Songs I Wrote with Amy and You Need Me) all showcase his incredibly distinguishable voice and his amazing acoustic guitar playing skills. His music is soothing and easy to listen to, each song melting into the next (especially if you have that cool song crossover thing on your iPod where the songs just overlap effortlessly — it’s great) but each one being different and distinguishable. As well as his music being perfect for summer (a theme we seem to be liking here at Sick Chirpse as we recently told you about Washed Out), ideal for lazy days in the sun (which is actually gracing England with its presence this year), it’s also unbelievably quirky and British. Seriously, I’d love for an American to listen to his music because I’m pretty sure they’d be clueless in regards to some of the references he makes, such as “Friends on T4” and his mentioning of a “2:1” on more than one occasion. His quirky lyrics such as, “strawberries taste like lips do” and “chips and cheese” make his music all that more enjoyable. This quirky, individual and what comes across as ‘down-to-earth’ lyrical genius is present in all other aspects of his work too, with his famous ‘The A Team’ music video apparently costing only £20.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ
A track that will most likely become my personal song for the summer has to be Little Bird from his album Loose Change, which is, I believe, his independant musical style exemplified. It is both lyrically quirky and accoustically pleasing, a track that just puts you in a good mood.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY46YTNGhIk
It’s fair to say that after listening to Ed Sheeran’s albums constantly for the past few weeks, it’s clear he epitomises the phrase ‘the best of British’.
