@eyeofnoa - Tumblr Blog

by helmut smits

So ... Ed Sheeran's No.6 Collaborations Project ...

I’m gonna come right out and say that Ed Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project didn’t need to happen. I understand the idea of the project in theory – a collaboration project with your favorite artists – but for Ed, an English singer-songwriter with an evident admiration for those in the world of rap, that wasn’t the best idea. It was … ambitious, we’ll call it.

For artists, crossing genres can be as exciting as it is risky, and it is evident that Ed’s music has been changing sonically over the years. In his transition to full-on pop guy, he seems to have become more willing to his guitar take the back seat while he creates tunes intended to be radio hits. The acoustic A-Team era Ed is almost nowhere to be found on this collab project, to the point where he appears to have disappeared completely. I guess that’s the purpose of it – allowing a whole other Ed to attempt to shine.

And look, artists are people and people are supposed to grow and change and develop differently over time and try new things and blah blah blah but don’t fret, because Ed is still the down to earth, humble, regular dude you’ve always known him to be, as he makes clear in the opener, Beautiful People. However, what I genuinely wondered the entire time I listened to the rest of the project was “Who is this Ed?”

We hear Ed rapping (yes, Ed Sheeran is full-on rapping) on multiple tracks alongside established names like Meek Mill, Young Thug, Cardi B, Eminem, and Travi$ Scott. Obviously, none of whom ever felt the need to tell Sheeran “No” at any point during this project. Knowing that, maybe it isn’t fair to blame this fiasco entirely on Ed. Maybe it isn’t his fault that he thinks he can rap. After all, a 2014 issue of Vibe features a story in which a reporter describes Ed as having a “hip-hop soul”, after hearing him freestyle. Even British grime rapper Stormzy (featured on Take Me Back to London) told GQ that “Even with his rapping he can execute it well.”

Sure, okay, fine, let’s let Ed rap. Let’s let him recruit 50 Cent and Eminem to go over a beat better suited for someone like Hoodie Allen. Let’s let him hardly alter the vocal melody from Shape of You and re use it in multiple songs. Let’s let him throw in dialogue he’d never use in speech just because he’s rapping (i.e. words like “ain’t”, phrases like “stay trippin’”, “stackin’ up the paper”). Let’s let him “try new things … because nobody thinks [he] writes rhymes” as he asks us to.

I feel like I have to acknowledge the fact that Ed Sheeran is a talented musician who undoubtedly understands the mechanics of songwriting. But it also needs to be acknowledged that Ed Sheeran is not a rapper. This project is a whole lot of Ed jumping into atmospheres where his favorite artists are already comfortable. That’s why Young Thug sounds perfectly in place on Feels, Meek Mill fits into 1000 Nights, Travi$ Scott on Antisocial, and why Ed’s presence in all of them is uncomfortable.

Hear for yourself how this experimental collaboration project went here.