First Listen | Ed Sheeran Album Review

Hi guys! Been a while, as per usual. Ed Sheeran’s ÷ album came out earlier this month and I thought I’d go through track by track and give my opinions as I listened to it for the first time. It’s rare that I automatically love songs at the first listen, so as much as I love Ed Sheeran, take things with a grain of salt 🙂

Eraser: Album not off to a great start for me. I’m sorry!!! I just don’t like the rap ones as much. Chorus is okay. 2/10.

Castle on the Hill: Absolute fire. This is one of the rare ones that is love at first listen. I remember the first time hearing this on the snowy day it was released in January and it was probably being played on five different radio stations at once. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. 10/10!

Dive: Starts off slow but definitely gets better. I like when he has that scratchy voice thing going on. This is another one though that I don’t know if I’d listen to again. 4.5/10.

Shape of You: Took a while to start getting airplay around here but recently it’s been everywhere. I didn’t like it much at first. Today, it’s not my favorite song he’s ever come out with and I’m a little sick of it being overplayed but it has definitely grown on me. 6/10.

Perfect: Right off the bat it reminded me of a church hymn for some reason but I really really like this one and I’m only 30 seconds in. Yeah, this one is adorable; kind of slow but I can imagine people dancing to it at their wedding reception. 5.5/10.

Galway Girl: I wanna dance!!! Fantastic. I need to learn all of the words. 7/10.

Happier: I shouldn’t have started writing this at night because I’m sleepy and some of these songs have been boring to me. It’s cute and I like the parts that remind me of The Lion King but I’m just not digging it. 4/10.

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here: Another of the same. I don’t know what I was expecting. I’m a woman of few words tonight, apparently. 3.5/10.

New Man:

4/10.

What Do I Know?: Sounds like Love Yourself by Justin Bieber. That’s all. I guess he wrote that so that makes sense. 6/10.

How Would You Feel (Paean): When I first heard this a few days ago I couldn’t even make it through the whole song. Listening again now and although it’s cute, still not a winner for me. Parts of it do remind me of Little Things by One Direction. Guess he wrote that too. Story checks out. 3/10.

Supermarket Flowers: I like this one a lot! It makes me really sad and I can probably never listen to it again but it’s so good. 8/10.

Deluxe Tracks

Barcelona: I LOVE IT, and I swear to you that before they even said it in the song I told myself that it sounds like something that people should be dancing to in the streets. Compared to the last song, this album is an emotional roller coaster. 7/10.

Bibia Be Ye Ye: Had to look up what this means. (FYI “All will be well.”) It sounds like something from a Disney movie where the main character is off on an adventure and conquering the world as they frolic through the forest am I right? 4.5/10.

Nancy Mulligan: Makes me want to do an Irish jig. So nice that he wrote it about his grandparents. 5.5/10.

Save Myself: Yes. Important and meaningful. Makes me want to do an interpretive dance. 6/10.

Overall, I’m liking it. There are a few songs here and there that I don’t think are the greatest but you can’t love ’em all. I need to go through and listen to them for a second time because I’m sure my opinions will change. Favorites as of now are Castle on the Hill, Galway Girl, Supermarket Flowers, and Barcelona.

x Alex