I had high hopes when I heard Ed Sheeran was releasing new music considering how I love Photograph and Thinking of You, Don’t. These were arguably some of the best slow songs of the last ten years — awesome and interesting both lyrically and in terms of catchiness / beat, which is very rare especially in mainstream pop. I also loved Don’t, Sing, and The A Team for similar reasons. This year really lacked popular lyrically beautiful music that Ed Sheeran kills at, and I was psyched to finally have some pop other than mindless tracks like Panda and Work.
However, a minute into Shape of You, I was already disappointed. The song, while better than Panda and Work, is a pretty stereotypical 2016 pop song. Nothing about this song was touching, thoughtful, or deep, which is what we love about Ed Sheeran’s music. It didn’t even really tell much of a story. I honestly just expected more.
Look, don’t get me wrong, it sounds pretty great — although not as good as some of his previous works — and it does make a good dance song. The man knows how to create a hot pop song. But what makes his past music stand out from the sea of pop is awesome, meaningful lyrics, which Shape of You simply lacks. It’s one thing to make a song that sounds good, but another to make one with real heart.
You get the sense that maybe Ed Sheeran doesn’t have as much to draw upon now from his own life vs. in his past work. Who knows. But there is a generic, produced feel to Shape of You which feels kinda forced rather than truthful/authentic.