No. 6 Collaborations Project- Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran took us all by surprise when he returned to the music world after a two-year break with the release of No. 6 Collaborations Project (No. 6). I’m not sure what happened during that time, but he left us as the singer of the #1 heart throb, “Perfect” and returned as a hip-hop singer. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the album, because overall it’s great but I don’t think I was ready for this transition.

Ed Sheeran brought us something very unique by creating an album with 15 collaborations. He was always known as the cheesy love song artist in all his fan’s eyes, so it was very shocking to hear this album. For the most part, the collaborations were very well done and flowed really nice. I really enjoyed “Beautiful People” featuring Khalid, “I Don’t Care” featuring Justin Bieber, “South of the border” featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B, “Best Part of Me” featuring YEBBA, and “Take Me Back to London” featuring Stormzy. Although these songs brought out a very different style in Sheeran, it still had elements of his old work that made the songs really come together nicely. “Beautiful People” and “I Don’t Care” were more like his old work with the familiar catchy pop style. I especially heard his old style in “Best Part of Me”. This song was everything I use to think of when I heard the name Ed Sheeran. It is his very stereotypical love song with the guitar and passionate lyrics. This song brings me right back to the Ed Sheeran and I’ve loved since “The A Team”. “South of the Border” pushed his style just enough where it was different yet refreshing. It was a nice transition from his last album which included the song “Barcelona” where he was pushing a Spanish style into his music. The song has a great energy to it with the unique beat and diverse singers. He really showed a range of styles with the song “Take Me Back to London”. The beginning had a really exciting and strong start that enticed me to keep listening. When Stormzy enters the song, it took a bit of a weird turn for me but overall, I really enjoyed the song.

 Sheeran’s album also included some collaborations that just didn’t really work at all. When I saw the names Eminem, Travis Scott, Young Thug, 50 Cent, Meek Mill, Boogie Wit da Hoodie, and Chance the Rapper, I was immediately unsure. I tried my best to be open-minded, but it really wasn’t working for me. His leap from a romantic, acoustic guitar player to a rapper was too drastic. As I mentioned before, some of his songs pushed the boundaries just enough to work but some of these songs were just too far. If I didn’t know beforehand, I would’ve never imagined that Ed Sheeran was the artist of "Antisocial" featuring Travis Scott. From the moment the song starts, I know its rap and when Sheeran starts singing, it’s just not working. If this song came on the radio and I didn’t know what it was, I would’ve been very thrown off. “Feels” had so much potential at the beginning. It has a great rhythm to it that could’ve flowed nicely with some of the other songs but then Young Thug enters and ruins something that was so great. It almost sounds like someone tried to make a remix of two different songs and it just didn’t go as planned. The statement pretty much goes for the other songs that include a rapper such as “Remember the Name”, “1000 Nights”, and “Cross Me”. They really just don’t make sense together. There’s been a big movement lately for crossover hits including songs like “Old Town Road” featuring Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus or “Meant to be” featuring Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line. It seems that Ed Sheeran’s whole purpose of this album was to push the boundaries but unfortunately, he really overdid it.

Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed by this album. There were definitely a few songs that I really enjoyed and would listen to again. Unfortunately, Sheeran took his album a little too far with the rap crossovers. Maybe it was just me, but I guess I just wasn’t ready for Sheeran to make this type of change.

No. 6 Collaborations Project: released July 12th, 2019