Review: Ed Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project Feels Like Playacting

The singer-songwriter opts to spend the entirety of the album strenuously avoiding his strengths.

1
Ed Sheeran
Photo: Mark Surridge

Broadly speaking, Ed Sheeran makes two types of songs. The first are his bread and butter: acoustic ballads expressive of some tender emotion, a la “The A Team” or “Photograph.” The second are attempts at marrying the lyrical swagger of hip-hop to a heavily produced pop sound, with his voice taking on a rap cadence. This second wave of songs took off with 2014’s “Don’t,” a diss track generally assumed to be targeted at Ellie Goulding, and peaked with “Shape of You,” which somehow manages to make sex sound stupid. Ultimately, Sheeran’s delivery on this type of track is too earnest and his demeanor is too goofy for the posture to be convincing. When he tries to play a badass, he always ends up sounding like a freshman saying, “Oh, she goes to another school.”

Unfortunately, the English singer-songwriter’s fourth album, No.6 Collaborations Project, which is composed of 15 tracks which all feature at least one guest artist, has way too many of the second kind of song. A few of these collaborations succeed thanks to their limited ambitions. “Best Part of Me,” a duet with West Memphis singer YEBBA, feels like a legitimate show of artistic expression on Sheeran’s part, rather than a bald-faced attempt at redefining his brand. Still, a few of the new songs broaden his musical palette successfully. Sheeran does a passable impression of Justin Timberlake on “Cross Me,” which is less tedious than the ham-fisted rapping he does elsewhere on the album. The song further benefits from a clever, evocative Chance the Rapper guest verse that the rapper delivers with particular brio: “Know she gonna slide anytime you bitches talk shit/Keep a lil’ blade in her fuckin’ lip gloss kit, ayy.”

Too often here, Sheeran feels like a supporting player, especially when he strays from his wheelhouse. For instance, if the singer wants to lean into rapping more, he’s not likely to benefit from doing so on the same track as Chance. And when Sheeran trots out his bad-boy routine, his music feels ersatz. It’s playacting of the worst kind. Lead single “I Don’t Care,” which boasts a peppy “ooh-ooh-ooh” hook, pairs Sheeran with Justin Bieber for a little woe-is-pop-stars commiserating before a bland chorus on the power of love. The preponderance of songs where he attempts to sound cool are a rainbow of embarrassing silliness. “Antisocial” has Sheeran try on misanthropy, sing-rapping over a chilly trap beat about how he doesn’t mind being a loner. This kind of works until the song’s second line, “When I touch down, keep it on the low-low,” which is delivered so straight-facedly that it sounds completely ridiculous.

Advertisement

On “Remember the Name,” Sheeran brags about the money he’s made while asserting that people will one day give him the respect he’s due. He tells us that he’s been told to “stick to singing, stop rappin’,” and assures listeners that he’s totally done drugs before: “My face is goin’ numb from the shit this stuff is mixed with.” Eminem’s guest verse sounds exactly like a dude doing a pretty good Eminem impression at a karaoke bar, with the rapper dropping finger-on-the-pulse references to his breakout single from 1999, “My Name Is.” 50 Cent pops up on the same track to name-drop a few luxury brands, and he and Sheeran insist that “it’s ‘bout time you remember the name,” as if anyone who engages with Western pop culture doesn’t know who Sheeran is. The song is basically one big strawman boast track.

Ultimately, these songs get about as far as each guest takes them. “South of the Border” once again raises the question of how Camila Cabello became the member of Fifth Harmony to successfully launch a solo career but does feature a fun Cardi B verse. The bonkers closing track, “Blow,” finds Sheeran teaming up with Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars for a sex jam backed by some wailin’ ’80s hair-metal guitar. The lyrics make L.A. Guns seem like Nobel laureates, unless calling a woman a “red leather rocket” and grunting “Shoot my shot tonight/I’m coming baby” is your idea of clever poetry. The song encapsulates the problem with the album as a whole: For whatever reason, Sheeran opts to spend the entirety of No.6 Collaborations Project strenuously avoiding his strengths.

Score: 
 Label: Atlantic  Release Date: July 12, 2019  Buy: Amazon

Seth Wilson

Seth Wilson is a writer, editor, and theatre scholar/director living in Chicago. He is a former 12-time Jeopardy! champion and an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan.

1 Comment

  1. Ed Sheeran is brilliant in every way. To be a person who doesn’t get it but tries to demean brilliance I just don’t get. You’re opinion doesn’t matter anyway.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.