Recently, I have been listening to a lot more pop music than I usually do. But more in particular, I’ve been catching myself listening to Ed Sheeran’s new album Divide on repeat. The album “Divide” by Ed Sheeran can appeal to people of all ages and music tastes. One thing I really appreciate about this album is how the songs all differ in genre and that no one song is like the other. I will be discussing 3 of the most popular songs from the Divide album which include: “Shape of You”, “Castle on the Hill”, and “Perfect”.
The song titled “Shape of You” was the first song to be released as a single from the album, and it blew up. In fact, the song was so popular that it broke Spotify’s first-day records with 6.9 million streams, previously the record was help by One Direction’s “Drag Me Down” with 4.
7 million streams. Part of the reason this song was so successful is because of the unique island style beat and instrumentation. In “The Shape of You” Sheeran sings about falling in love with a woman’s body. He describes a relationship that begins at a bar and quickly leads to the bedroom. The lyrics are also very unique for Ed Sheeran song, because most of his songs sound a bit sadder and are less sugar coated. Sheeran says he originally wrote this song for Rihanna, but decided halfway through writing this song that it was better suited for him, so that may explain why the lyrics are less sad and more upbeat. The next song on this album talks about a different kind of love.
“Castle on the Hill” was the second song to be released as a single, he said he chose “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill” because they were the two songs that were the most different from each other. “Castle on the Hill” is a sentimental look back into Sheeran’s childhood. In the song, Sheeran is traveling back to his home in Framlingham, Suffolk. As the song continues, he goes on to talk about some of his good and bad memories. Sheeran says the main reason he wanted to write what he calls a “love song for Suffolk” was because he had never seen anyone do that before and wanted to be the first. The last song on this album is a song about two people being in love and their future together.
When Sheeran began creating this album he set a goal for himself. That goal was to right the best love song ever, one that would beat his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”. When asked about the song, Sheeran told BBC Radio, “I wanted to beat ‘Thinking Out Loud’ because I know that song was gonna define me and that was gonna be the song in fifty years like when you have one song like that you’re that artist but when you have two or three songs like that that’s when you start to be like Van Morrison.” After Sheeran wrote multiple love songs, he finally chose the song titled “Perfect”, and in his opinion this song is the best thing he has ever done. “Perfect” is a waltz-time love song Sheeran wrote for his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn, who he has been dating for over 2 years. In this wedding song Sheeran sings about the future relating to children, family and growing old together. Next, I will be discussing how each of these songs proves the album to appeal to people of all ages and music tastes.
“The Shape of You” is a good example and really shows how successful Sheeran and his album are. “Castle onHill” explains how his childhood was spent, what some of his hobbies were, and how Suffolk made him who he is now. Lastly, “Perfect” is a song Sheeran says that was inspired by being in love. He explained writing this song as needing to write the best love song of his career, which he clearly accomplished. As I said in the beginning, lately I have been really obsessed with this album and the variety of different songs and meaning behind them. I think these 3 songs really help prove that this album can appeal to all people, no matter their age or music taste. As Sheeran begins to create more songs; I am sure me and the other Sheerians will be sure to break more first-day records on Spotify.
