Line #98 Music/EdSheeran


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b7a3bd75_5723_4732_9841_823db3d6119f_454241_custom.jpg]]
2	[floatboxright:
3	Influences:
4	+Music/JoniMitchell, Music/BobDylan, Music/VanMorrison, Music/EricClapton, Music/EltonJohn, Music/TheBeatles, Nizlopi, Music/{{Eminem}}, Music/DamienRice, Music/TaylorSwift
5	Influenced:
6	+Music/ShawnMendes, Music/MaisiePeters, Music/LouisTomlinson, Music/CamilaCabello]
7
8	->''"I'm quite arty. I didn't know whether to become an artist or musician but I realised I could paint with music. All my songs have colours."''
9
10	Edward Christopher Sheeran [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter.
11
12	His first big break was when he released the ''No. 5 Collaborations Project'' EP in January 2011, which caught the attention of both Music/EltonJohn and Creator/JamieFoxx. After signing to Asylum Records, he released his debut album, ''+'' (read "plus"), that same year in the fall. The album contained his BreakthroughHit "The A Team", which became an unexpected major success. However, not mentioning another successful single, "Lego House", would be a disservice.
13
14	After forming a strong friendship with Music/TaylorSwift (appearing as a feature on her album ''[[Music/Red2012 Red]]'' and as an opening act on her Red Tour), writing songs for Music/OneDirection, winning two Brit Awards, ''and'' playing three sold-out shows in Madison Square Garden, he released his second album, ''x'' (read "multiply"), in summer 2014. It became Spotify's most-streamed album of the year (over ''430 million'' streams) and the highest-selling album of the year in the UK, won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and was also up for two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s.
15
16	Sheeran's third album, ''÷'' (read "divide"), was released on March 3, 2017. His fourth, ''No.6 Collaborations Project'', was released on July 12, 2019. His fifth, entitled ''='' (read “equals”), was released on October 29, 2021. His sixth, ''-'' (read "subtract"), was released on May 5, 2023 as a visual album, with music videos for all songs being released on the album's release date (excluding the already-released videos for the singles). His seventh album, ''Autumn Variations'', was released on September 29, 2023.
17
18	It should be noted that Sheeran's songs tend to be a bit depressing, especially if you read into the real meaning of the lyrics. He also has a special hatred for ticket touts; in March 2017, he cancelled ''fifty thousand'' tickets for his tour that were bought up by touts in order to resell them to fans at face value.
19	----
20	!!Discography:
21	* ''+'' (2011)
22	* ''x'' (2014)
23	* ''[[Music/{{Divide}} ÷]]'' (2017)
24	* ''No. 6 Collaborations Project'' (2019)
25	* ''='' (2021)
26	* ''-'' (2023)
27	* ''Autumn Variations'' (2023)
28	----
29	!!Troping out loud:
30	* AgeProgressionSong: "Castle on the Hill": Six, fifteen and the present day.
31	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: "Galway Girl" has Sheeran sing about Grafton Street (a street in Dublin), not to mention the song itself is a tribute to Niamh Dunne... who’s from Limerick. The video stars Creator/SaoirseRonan... who's from Ardattin in County Carlow.
32	* AwardBaitSong: Has penned and performed three: "I See Fire" for ''Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationOfSmaug'', "All of the Stars" for ''Film/TheFaultInOurStars'' and "Celestial" for ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet''.
33	* BaitAndSwitch: The music video for "Lego House" makes you believe Creator/RupertGrint is playing Sheeran himself as part of its narrative, [[spoiler: before [[WhamShot it's revealed]] that Grint is in reality just an obssessed fan stalking the singer]].
34	* BookEnds: The video for "The A Team" starts and ends with [[spoiler:the death of the protagonist, a prostitute.]]
35	* TheCameo:
36	** Creator/RupertGrint in "Lego House".
37	** Creator/SaoirseRonan in "Galway Girl".
38	** Sheeran AsHimself in ''Film/RedNotice''.
39	* CelebrityResemblance: Creator/JudiDench has talked about how her grandson bears a quite startling resemblance to Sheeran, to the point that the two of them were once stopped and asked for a picture, and when Judi agreed they said, "Oh, not you."
40	* DarkerAndEdgier: PlayedWith. On one hand, ''x'' has a more lighthearted sound than ''+''. On the other hand, ''x'' has [[LyricalDissonance even darker lyrics]] than ''+'' ever had.
41	* DigitalPiracyIsOkay: "If people wants new music there's around seven E.Ps that I released out and about and I don't really mind if anyone illegally downloads them."
42	* DownerEnding: At the end of "The A Team" music video, [[spoiler:the protagonist, a prostitute, dies from drug abuse.]]
43	** "Little Lady", which uses the chorus from "The A Team" however, gives a different story that's... darker. [[spoiler:The protagonist was murdered by her pimp, who is her ''uncle'' and it was her ''13th birthday''.]]
44	* DrowningTheirSorrows: "Drunk" is about Sheeran's continuous attempts to dull the pain of a failed relationship via binge drinking.
45	* FanCommunityNickname: Sheerios.
46	* GriefSong:
47	** "Small Bump". [[spoiler: It's about a miscarriage.]]
48	** "Afire Love" is about his paternal grandfather's death from Alzheimer's, and "Supermarket Flowers" is about his maternal grandmother's death.
49	** "F64" is a tribute to Jamal Edwards, the founder of music channel SBTV, which Ed Sheeran was featured prominently on in his early years.
50	** "Eyes Closed" was also made in tribute to Jamal and is generally about losing a loved one.
51	* GrowOldWithMe: In "Thinking Out Loud", Sheeran romanticizes the idea of staying with his significant other well into his twilight years, and promises that old age will do nothing to quell or dampen his love for her.
52	** The narrator and the title character in "Nancy Mulligan" (for extra heartwarming points, the song is about Sheeran's grandparents).
53	-->''Over sixty years I've been loving her\
54	Now we're sat by the fire in our old armchairs''
55	* HiddenTrack: The traditional Scottish-Irish song "The Parting Glass" is hidden onto the end of "Give Me Love".
56	* HowWeGotHere: The music video for "The A Team" opens with the main character discovered dead. The rest of the video shows her day's activities leading up to that point.
57	* IconicItem: Ed is almost always seen in a hoodie. He even performed at the ''Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics'' in London in one!
58	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: His first six albums follow a theme of being named after mathematical symbols. His debut album was named after a plus sign (''+''), his second was named after a multiplication sign (''x''), his third was named after a division sign (''÷''), his fifth was named after the equals symbol (''='') and his sixth is named after the subtract symbol (''-'').
59	* IndecipherableLyrics:
60	** Parts of "You Need Me, I Don't Need You", "U.N.I.", "Drunk" among others.
61	** "Bibia Be Ye Ye" takes this up to eleven, considering parts of it ''aren't even written in English.''
62	* IntercourseWithYou: "Shape of You" and "Shivers"
63	* InternetStalking: From "New Man"
64	-->''Still lookin' at your Instagram and I'll be creepin' a lil'\
65	I'll be tryin' not to double tap, from way back\
66	'Cause I know that's where the trouble's at''
67	* LetsDuet: With {{Music/Beyonce}} on her remix of "Perfect".
68	* LuckyCharmsTitle: The names of five of his albums, which are ''+'' (Plus), ''x'' (Multiply), ''÷'' (Divide), ''='' (Equals) and ''-'' (Subtract).
69	* MalignedMixedMarriage: "Nancy Mulligan" is about a real life one of these, his grandparents who married despite their different Christian denominations during [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles a time when doing so was not well received in Ireland]].
70	* MoodWhiplash: The deluxe edition of ''x'' features this, going from the poignant "Afire Love", about his grandfather's struggle with dementia and eventual death, straight into the slightly braggish rap song "Take It Back".
71	* NewSoundAlbum: While ''+'' was mostly a folk-pop album with heavily influences of soul, ''x'' is an eclectic trip between poppier, funkier sounds, folk-rock and rap.
72	%% ZCE; what's odd? * OddFriendship: He and Jamie Foxx. He's the one who discovered him, after all.
73	* OneWordTitle: The songs "U.N.I.", "Drunk", "One", "Sing", "Don't", "Runaway", "Shirtsleeves,", "BLOW" and "Celestial". All but one of his albums also qualify as their symbols are read as single words - ''+'' (''Plus''), ''x'' (''Multiply''), ''÷'' (''Divide''), ''='' ("Equals") and (''-'') ("Subtract").
74	%% ZCE; also, I'm pretty sure none of the examples below qualify. * PissTakeRap:
75	%% ** "You Need Me, I Don't Need You". Damn!
76	%% ** More prominent in ''x'', most notably on "Don't" and "The Man".
77	* PlatonicLifePartners: He and Music/TaylorSwift are known for having "one of the sweetest friendships in pop".
78	* PrecisionFStrike:
79	** "They say I'm up and coming like I'm ''fucking'' in an elevator."
80	** Several censored ones on ''x'', especially on "Don't". Surprisingly, the Rick Ross remix of the song keeps in the profanities taken out in the official version.
81	** In the "Antisocial" music video, after [[EyeScream a bee stings him in the eye]]:
82	-->'''Ed''': ''Wanking fuckballs!''
83	* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
84	** "The A Team" was inspired by a homeless prostitute named Angel that Ed met while doing charity work.
85	** Ed started writing "Afire Love", about his grandfather's struggle with dementia, towards the end of 2013. Two weeks after he started writing it, his grandfather passed away of the disease, and Sheeran had to write this into the song (he reportedly finished writing it at the funeral).
86	** "Supermarket Flowers" is about Ed's late grandmother, who passed away during production of ''÷''.
87	* SelfDeprecation: His uncredited appearance in "Freaky Friday" by Music/LilDicky and Music/ChrisBrown:
88	-->And now I'm in Ed Sheeran's body
89	-->It's way less cool than being Chris Brown was
90	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: "Eraser" is about the celebrity lifestyle and how it leads to addiction. "Bloodstream" has the same subject .
91	* ShoutOut:
92	** "A young singer-writer like Music/GabriellaCilmi"
93	** "Castle on the Hill" mentions Music/EltonJohn's song "Tiny Dancer" on the chorus:
94	-->Driving at 90 down those country lanes
95	-->Singing to "Tiny Dancer"
96	** "The radio is playing Music/IronAndWine" in "Afterglow".
97	%% ** "Celestial" includes footage from the Pokémon series, specifically involving the first movie, with Ed's character even jumping in between Mew's and Mewtwo's attacks like Ash did at the end.
98	%%* SillyLoveSongs: "Perfect", "Hearts Don't Break Around Here".
99	* SuddenDownerEnding: "Small Bump" is mostly about a man conversing with his future baby, which is revealed at the very end [[spoiler: to have been miscarried]]. [[AudienceSuckerPunch Ouch.]]
100	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: "Autumn Leaves" is a gentle lullaby about losing someone you love, and "The Parting Glass" is an acapella goodbye song.
101	* TakeThat: Ed said in an interview that the song, "You Need Me, I Don't Need You", is geared towards the music industry, rather than a person.
102	%% * ThisIsYourSong: "Lego House".
103	%%* TitleDrop: Hard to miss in "You Need Me, I Don't Need You".
104	%%* TitleOnlyChorus: Again, "You Need Me, I Don't Need You".
105	* WhamLine: "Little Lady", built on top of "The A Team" with the new verses practically being wham-verses, especially the last lines of the second and third verses, which reveal in order, [[spoiler: her pimp is her uncle]] and [[spoiler: he killed her because she was given a card on her thirteenth birthday]].

Context Music / EdSheeran