
Nevertheless, these gangly excursions in rap are evidence of Sheeran's youth and his generation, something that keeps X from being merely a bit of excellently crafted mature pop and gives it some appealing character. Sheeran is so good at this AAA gloss that whenever the mildly manic rapping surfaces - which X does about every three songs or so - it's a bit of sand in the Vaseline, preventing X from operating as smoothly as it'd like. His boyishness doesn't give these immaculate confections grit so much as a wet, wide-eyed puppy dog heart. His sweetness isn't cloying, not even when the productions are aimed straight down the middle of the road, which they often are on. When Sheeran sings slow, he rarely sings sad: he's a hybrid of Chris Martin and David Grey, a boy next door who hasn't lost his shaggy romanticism. Multiply Deluxe Edition by Ed Sheeran - CD (2014) for 12.98 from Pop / Rock Rolling Stone : 3 stars out of 5 - 'On his second album, X, Ed Sheeran supersizes his romantic affliction.He incorporates hip-hop and R&B into his plaintive songs. Naturally, these traits surface clearly on "Sing," a collaboration with Pharrell Williams that contains some of the natural ebullience of "Happy," along with the upscale whitebread rap of "The Man," but this good cheer surfaces on songs that are far removed from rhythm. Although he sometimes pours out his heart armed with no more than an acoustic guitar, he's not a troubadour those hip-hop roots means he'll not only ramble out a rap, but he's also quite comfortable with luxurious, shimmering textures and buoyant melodies. Adopting the old-fashioned route to success by playing a grueling 300 gigs in 2009 alone, Ed Sheerans blend of singer/songwriter balladry and acoustic hip-hop has built up quite the fan base, ensuring his debut full-length album, simply titled Plus, is one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year. Like Mraz, Sheeran plays around with hip-hop cadences but at his core he's a singer/songwriter, and a sensitive one at that, one who prefers love tunes to songs of protest, something that is quite evident on X, his second collection of original songs.

5 Collaborations Project 2014 - x (Wembley Edition Digital) 2015 - 5 2017 - ÷ (Deluxe Edition) 2019 - No. It's a little glib to call Ed Sheeran the U.K.'s answer to Jason Mraz, yet there's a grain of truth in that statement. Ed Sheeran - Partial discography (2010-2021) (Opus 128) + Covers + Off.
