I just finished listening to the newest album by Ed Sheeran, titled “-” that came out May 5. It was a very well-thought-out album. I have never really listened to a full Ed Sheeran album before, but I have listened to his more popular songs on the radio here and there. This album made me realize how talented an artist Ed Sheeran is. The melody and vocals in this album made the songs far better than I expected. I realized a lot of these songs have an important meaning behind them and how it expands more on the topics of his personal life.

I enjoyed a variety of the songs in this album. Songs like “Boat” and “Eyes Closed,” are catchy and just beautifully sung, they´re also very empowering songs about the struggles that Ed Sheeran has faced and really makes a point of that in the lyrics of those songs. The majority of the songs in this album reflect Ed Sheeran’s struggles. They give more context to the fact that this album was written the way it was because of traumatic events that have occurred in his life, with the death of his best friend Jamal Edwards, and during this time dealing with family matters, such as his wife and her experience of dealing with a tumor while having their second child. All this happening at once in Ed Sheeran’s life was really noted in this album.

When I listen to the song “ Eyes Closed,” I see clearly that Ed Sheeran is singing about the loss of his best friend, Jamal Edwards. Using the lyrics, “every song reminds me you’re gone,” and “cause everywhere I look, I still see you.” This song has a very catchy beat and rhythm to it. It also states a lot more examples in the song of Ed Sheeran expressing his current state and how he’s living life now that he has just lost an important person in his life. While referring to the title of this song, “Eyes Closed,” Sheeran uses that lyric to explain how everywhere he looks he sees his best friend, so he keeps his eyes closed to not have reminders that his friend is no longer with him and not get the constant reminder of him because it hurts too much. So he’ll keep his eyes closed and numb the pain. 

Another song I enjoyed in this album was “No Strings.” This song was beautifully sung by Ed Sheeran and fit the lyrics in this song with how sensitive he was singing in context of the song. This song reflects on the relationship between Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn. His wife was diagnosed with a tumor last year while carrying her second baby. A lot of the lyrics on this song reflect what Ed Sheeran was going through during this time. For example, in the lyrics, “and that won’t change when we’re falling apart,” and “we did not fight for love. Just to let it be defeated.” These lyrics show us that Ed Sheeran is going through a really difficult time with his wife, but won’t give up for what he has with her. 

These songs define the whole album. This album describes two traumatic experiences that Ed Sheeran has faced in such a short time. Overall, it represents his vulnerability that he is not okay. He is still grieving, moving on and living past traumatic experiences. I really like that about this album, how he expresses his own problems through music. 

I don’t think I would listen to the entirety of this whole album ever again. I thought it was a great piece of work and just has a very powerful message behind the songs in this album, but this just isn’t the type of music I would listen to on a day to day basis. Also,  this album felt a little bit stretched with 19 tracks with a total duration of one hour and 19 minutes. It didn’t really leave me invested in the entire album. I got bored after a while with some of the tracks later on in the album. The majority of this album was average. After hearing how amazing the songs “Boat” and “Eyes Closed” were, my expectations kind of went through the roof and I set myself up for disappointment. Not every song is going to be a hit, but I just felt like the rest of the album was just average. Overall, I would recommend listening to this album for the message and how talented Ed Sheeran is as an artist, yet I wouldn’t listen to it again. 

“-“: ★★★☆☆