The artist uses his real anguish, such as his wife’s cancer and the death of a friend, to create a spectacular album “Subtract”
Ed Sheeran could make a well-polished record full of orchestral arrangements and pop ballads that has already found its way. It would be accurate, but somewhat repetitive, if we recall what we’ve heard about previous albums released since 2011. Sheeran has the secret of the golden vein, and usually finds it in at least three out of ten original songs. Thus, he seems to have given up on the most precise formulas to be more honest with the moment he is living.
Sheeran rationalized his pain and turned the project of making what he called “the best and most well-crafted album of his career” into something more, pardon the cliché, organic. not that Subtract, his most recent album, has no technical values. It is well done, well engraved, but manages to play more in the field of gray colors than other works. And that’s what leapt to the ears of their fans. Ed Sheeranmany times, it actually seems sadder than usual.
He spoke about it himself: “I worked at the Subtract for a decade, trying to carve out the perfect acoustic album, writing and recording hundreds of songs with a clear vision of what I thought it should be. Then, in early 2022, a series of events changed my life, my mental health, and ultimately the way I viewed music and art.”
In just over a month, Sheeran’s pregnant wife Cherry Seaborn was diagnosed with cancer, and had to anxiously await the delivery to begin treatment. A great friend of Sheeran’s, Jamal Edwards, “a brother to me” as he puts it, died young and suddenly. And a grueling charge of plagiarism by Shape of you, already won by the artist in the last resort, he placed it on the canvas. “In just over a week, I replaced a decade’s work with my darkest, deepest thoughts. I was spiraling into fear, depression, and anxiety.”
The text distributed to journalists brings other revelations from the artist. “I felt like I was drowning, with my head below the surface, looking up but not being able to breathe. I am and how I need to be expressed at this point in my life. This album is just that.”
But it’s important not to fall into the wrong expectation. Listening to his words, it seems that what awaits us is an album taken from the depths of the soul. It is not so. The lyrics aren’t that clear, none of them speak objectively about the topics he mentioned above, and the mood of the album is not one of angst. In many cases, quite the opposite. There is hope in Ed Sheeran’s verbal sadness. His guitar has the same solar energy as Elton John’s piano. The chords are simple, the rhythm will always be that of the ballads, but the gold will be there, right in the first chords. You can’t explain what happens, it just happens.
It’s then irrelevant to go track by track, but it’s worth the tip. If you don’t have time to listen to the entire album, start with the spectacular Salt waterswitch to something like this later curtains OR Confine and then try to relax a little more, with Boat (another beauty) closed eyes OR Colour blind. There are few errors, few quirks. A reporter from The Guardian in the UK has already written that this is the best of all Sheeran’s albums. And it’s covered with reasons.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
