Ed Sheeran review: Equals is the new album - but what does it sound like?
Ed Sheeran has just released his new album, Equals (=). Picture: Dan Martensen
★★★★☆
Ed Sheeran is an odd mix of two contrasting phenomena. Of Irish heritage, he grew up obsessed with singer-songwriters such as Damien Rice. And if he had a come to Jesus moment as a budding artist it was while attending a Rice show at Whelan’s, the spiritual heartland of the weepy Irish male troubadour.
How strange to reflect that the biggest musician in the world (according to Spotify streams and touring revenues) owes it all to the early 2000s genre of semi-miserable Irish gents bashing guitars on Wexford Street. They wept so that Ed could soar.
Mixed in with that, though, is a gimlet-eyed understanding of how to write hit in the age of streaming. So he’s the ultimate contradiction. A gather-round-the-campfire troubadour with one clear foot in the Irish indie scene (Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid - also godfather to Sheeran's daughter - co-wrote 10 tracks on Equals). And also a pop star who is bigger than Rihanna, Beyonce and Billie Eilish.
Those two sides of Sheeran haven’t always made sense set side by side. However, he does an effective job bringing them together on his fourth studio album – written as = and apparently titled “Equals”. It’s his being-a-dad record, as he declares from the outset on opening track Tides, in which he declares “I’ve grown up, I’m a father now”.
Having a daughter with his wife, Cherry Seaborn, indeed seems have wrought a change in Sheeran, who has revealed that he cut back on beer and wine after experiencing ballooning weight during lockdown (welcome to the human race, Ed).
Yet, far from throwing him into disarray, the responsibilities of parenthood have brought a sense of peace, which allows Sheeran the confessional crooner and Sheeran the pop star co-exist in relative harmony. That merging of genres brings some winning results. Overpass Graffiti sounds like Coldplay or Snow Patrol with brasher production and a lot more woe sloshing around.
Meanwhile, Sheeran reprises his old trick of grafting an r’n'b tempo to a torch song on 2step, which contains some of his most forthright lyrics yet ("I had a bad week / Spent the evening pretending it wasn't that deep,” he sings. “You could see in my eyes that it was taking over”).
Any artist at Sheeran’s level is going to have a figurative target on their forehead. And Equals certainly won’t bring around those who think he’s the worst thing to happen to the charts since Simon Cowell invented X Factor. But those who go into the record with an open mind will find that Sheeran remains a past master at thoughtful pop and, when it comes to artists with a billion plus streams to their name, remains the first among equals.
