I saw Ed live a few times early on. He was already playing large venues, I saw him at Radio City Music Hall and then Madison Square Garden. What impressed me so much about Ed then was his ability to capture the audience. This was a group of excited young women, mostly, who would happily sing along to the songs where it was welcomed, but when Ed would intro a song asking that things stay a little quieter, you could hear a pin drop. Ed's music may not be perfect, or for everyone, but he is one of many that is a gateway into more music. I've been laughed at a couple times for mentioning how being part of a communal experience like seeing someone like Ed in concert can be influential, especially young music fans, but I'll keep saying it. Going to a concert like that makes people want to be around music, and I don't see how that can ever be a bad thing. Anyway. Ed's been successful writing for himself and others for over a decade now, so it can't all be luck.
He’s no different from many many million selling artist since recording began. Just cause ya sell a lot doesn’t mean you are good. You have broad appeal
The boring old farts on this music forum would be singing Sheeran's praises if his career had been in the 1960s and 1970s.
I didn’t like his early stuff but I think he has evolved. He sings and writes catchy tunes, lyrics you can hear and words that most can relate to. He tells a story in most of his songs, I wouldn’t go out of my way to see him in concert but I like him, he’s earned his stripes. He comes across as the boy next door, likeable and relatable, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. I especially love “Castle On The Hill” “Nancy Mulligan” “Galway Girl” “Happier” and the sad song “Supermarket Flowers” which I understand he wrote about his Nan in his Moms words.
He's not very good. A few of his songs are good, but he never makes great ones and doesn't excel at anything. But he's a solid acoustic guitar player and writer and, when I think about it, his voice is quite pleasant, unlike most male voices I hear.
Ed has broken another UK chart record. Ed Sheeran breaks ANOTHER Official Charts record, becomes first artist with 4 albums to spend a year in the Top 10
Bit unfair, regardless of who played on them and wrote them, The Monkees have some of the best pop records ever recorded.
A lot of incredibly bad records were made in the 60s and 70s, a lot of them incredibly successful as well.
Possibly, I haven’t heard any of his albums in full and the songs that I have heard are not really to my tastes.
As always, its purely subjective as to whether Ed's music is good or not, but there is no denying his popularity,and by all accounts he's a really nice, down to earth bloke. Personally I find his music a bit too MOR for my taste but hey,he's doing and achieving something that I could never do so I'm not going to criticise him for doing that.
I hear he goes to church, loves his mum, helps little old ladies across the road and gives money to charity! On that basis he's quite good.
Hmm...CSN, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, Ed Sheeran, Bob Dylan... Oh, yeah, he fits right in.
I don't even particularly want my pop and rock stars down to earth and nice guys. People should be decent anyway, but I want my pop stars not to look like the guy down the road. I want charisma and personality. I want Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Madonna, Prince etc. I know not many people are on that level, but Ed is so exceptionally popular I'd expect something more special from him, at least something more than average. Apart from not being able to tolerate Shape of You, I've nothing against Ed Sheeran really. He has talent and has done very well, but it's all so flat and mundane.
I do not really care for Ed Sheeran's music and Ruth has her radio tuned to The Beat 95 so I do hear it. That being said Ed has sales and radio success but he also seems to have the live thing going on. A few years back he played London, Ontario near me. I did not go but apparently he hung out in a local bar talking to fans most of the day of the show. He gets points for that.
Voted "mediocre" although that is a little harsher than I feel, but it was the closest option. Basically I think he's fine, just a kind of standard artist in his lane, and his phenomenal success is a bit bewildering to me because it suggests he's a lot better than I think he actually is.
He is likeable but I am not a fan of the music and find the 21st century male singer songwriter pool pretty shallow compared with the classic troubadour era. It's the women making the innovations. The men who are stuck in the past. But then I am ancient and his wares are not exactly meant for me. Jim Moray (one example that springs to mind) is a far more interesting artist yet virtually unknown outside UK folk circles but he didn't have the "common touch" and was more of the tradition than a confessional composer. Moray was blending folk with glam, prog and hip hop influences the best part of a decade before. More like a folk Steven Wilson than a pop star. Sam Lee (his album produced by Bernard Butler is worth hearing) has stepped into that ground in many ways but he is more of a media personality than an artist. Not enough Pop in the stew for crossover let alone mass market success. There was also an Ed Sheeran shaped industry hole in 2011 just as there was a Coldplay shaped hole in 2000. There is no sin in having good career timing and being likeable is the one commercial asset you really can't do without as a singer songwriter that wants to go massive. People have to relate and he is enormously relatable to men and women alike.
Even Pete Waterman thinks Ed Sheeran is rubbish. (Waterman produced some of the worst pop dross of the 1980s and 90s, so he should know). He thinks Ed cannot match his world class acts like Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. Ed Sheeran? I just don't get it says pop hit maker Pete Waterman
