To find Ed Sheeran's music really forced?

[moutonfou]

Before anyone else says it... #firstworldproblems

But his songs just seem to be tactically written to have mass appeal. Galway Girl rammed full of tired stereotypes... Castle on the Hill which he presents as some kind of 'salt of the earth' autobiographical kind of thing but then admits he's never actually broken his leg (so why say it?)

And the new one, Perfect, seems to have been written as part of a 'wedding song by numbers' kit - falling in love young, prevailing "against the odds", hoping to have children, etc etc.

Yes, obviously music has to be commercial, but people like Adele and Sam Smith (heck even Taylor Swift!) manage to be commercial yet authentically reflect their own experiences.

AIBU? (probably)

I think his music is catchy. But I saw him on celebrity juice a couple of weeks back and I really didn't like him. Seemed to have a too cool for school attitude

I’m not a fan of his new stuff at all, but his old stuff, I mean, going back about 7 years is absolutely brilliant, his stuff of today isn’t a patch on his old stuff.

Same for Sam Smith, Nirvarna is one of my favourite ‘older’ songs of his and I will always love ‘Latch’ and ‘Money on my Mind’ from his more ‘recent’ (if 5 years ago is recent) stuff.

ofshoes( great name btw)

I think I love you! ( and Grace Jones...) 😈

And there is a lot of brilliant music out there, just most of it isn’t in the charts!

I like Ed. I like that he's written tracks I can run to, tracks I can bellow along to in the car and tracks I can listen to whilst sitting on the sofa. Is it brilliant, astute, subtle song-writing and lyricism? No. But why does all music have to be? What he writes clearly resonates with millions of people across the world, because he's writing about the human experience really. You like what you like. I also like PJ Harvey, Eminem, Kate Bush, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pixies. Completely different to Ed Sheeran but taste is subjective.

Alwaysinmyheart She's absolutely the greatest, just fierce, fearless and brilliant!

Agree with your second post too, Spotify recommends me astounding stuff all the time. We're in an golden age for music making where pretty much anyone can make an album in their bedroom for free and get it released to the world immediately. And it's all available for a monthly subscription, it's amazing.

She described it as sort of mind numbing the younger generations. She couldn’t understand how this generation of zero hour contracts and unpaid internships and unattainable house prices and living with your parents until you’re 30 were listening to drivel like this instead of picking up a guitar and getting bloody ANGRY.

While that may be true I'm a bit confused as to why Ed Sheeran would be singled out for that criticism when there seems to be worse culprits out there.

From my (albeit disengaged) POV it seems that over the last 15 years or so 90% of pop acts blended together to become one homogeneous entity. You could call that entity RhiannOra or something like that. Everybody seemed to use the same team of songwriters and take turns releasing songs that could have all appeared on the same album together.

As a singer songwriter Ed Sheeran is a bit of a rare breed these days. He's a shit, bland singer songwriter, but he's not RhiannOra. If he inspires a few kids to pick up guitars that's at least a start.

An Irish journalist on The Pool wrote a really good article about how Galway Girl is basically a wet dream in song form about what English guys stereotypically imagine all Irish girls to be like.

I'm surprised Beoga were on board with it all tbh, although I guess to be on Ed Sheeran's album is huge for them.

Nancy Mulligan is another just full of romantic clichés, but I do kind of like it!

Another great answer Slarti The Ed Sheeran hatred on here seems a little unwarranted. It's the usual British thing of sneering at anyone who is successful. A lot of music I hear is pretty homogeneous and blurs into a very samey sound. I disagree about the shit singer though because he can actually sing. His music might not be to everyone's taste, but he isn't completely talentless. He makes it look so effortless, which means he does have some talent.

Agree Spotify is brilliant. And you can make your own playlists so you don’t have to listen to crap like Ed Sheeran! 💩

He may well be talented but it’s just so inoffensive and bland. I like music with a bit of soul and passion!

I like to sing out loud in my office 'dancing in the grass, with you between my ass' it raises a few smiles...
But yes he is a dick with stupid tats that look like he has gone mad colouring himself in.

Seven of the eight co-writers on Galway Girl are Irish, you'd think one of them would have told him to wise up with the begorrah bullshit like.

There is no sneering or hatred or 'music snobbery,' get a fucking grip!

Some people are bored with him, and think he is over-rated. We are entitled to think that. Not everyone likes the same things. Who fucking knew?

I like Justin Bieber, Little Mix, and Taylor Swift, a LOT, and I was a fan of Steps and S Club 7 some 15 years back, so I am hardly a 'music snob' PMSL!

(I also like 70's and 80's rock, and R & B and soul too, but I'm just saying; I do actually like fluffy pop too!)

Maybe the offended snowflakes on here can start an Ed Sheeran appreciation thread. You don't have to be a fucking rocket scientist to see THIS isn't one. The title alone says it's not!

I do know what you mean though I do like a lot of his stuff.

So much music is formulaic. I am tired of the rap interspersed with female warbling that has dominated the radio for two decades. Eminem and Beyoncé's recent track is just nails down a blackboard to me. He used to write brilliant stuff, what the hell happened!?

Now, I hate rap - with a passion. It is tuneless and boring, and shit. I wouldn't even class it as music

Also it's not really the likes of Ed Sheeran that have blocked the radio with dross. It's the massive producers that are behind the massive hits. They see what works and they produce a load of similar stuff. If I hear DJ Khaled screamed out over a track once more I think I might weap.

*weep 🙄

Sam Smith doesn't annoy me half as much as James Arthur with his weird, strangulated voice, total lack of consonants - it's as if he has no roof to his mouth or something.

I disagree about the shit singer though because he can actually sing. His music might not be to everyone's taste, but he isn't completely talentless.

I'm falling into the same trap of using objective adjectives for my subjective opinion that I'm criticising others for.

He's obviously got enough talent to play an instrument and write songs which certainly seems like more than most in the charts. It isn't my cup of tea so I think he's subjectively a bit shit, and while there's probably an argument that his music is objectively of a lower quality than more sophisticated compositions out there an argument in not qualified to make), he definitely seems to attract a disproportionate amount of criticism.

My favourite song is Photograph. I'm not offended if people say they dont like him because we all have different musical tatstes but I certainly dont think there's the need for posts like this But yes he is a dick with stupid tats that look like he has gone mad colouring himself in

Now, I hate rap - with a passion. It is tuneless and boring, and shit. I wouldn't even class it as music

Says an Ed Sheeran fan.

How can you get annoyed over people saying Sheeran is shite, but then merrily dismiss an entire music genre.

To be fair to Liz Kershaw I dint think she did single him out Slarti because your point is totally fair. I mis represented her comment, it was more using him as an example.

I suppose when people were getting angry in 1977 and listening to the Sex Pistols and X-Ray Spex and Crass there were many more people were in raptures over Barry Manilow and Leo Sayer.

As someone said earlier, there's always plenty of good music about, it just rarely makes the charts. So although he's ubiquitous at the moment I know that there are lots of people out there who are not into this anodyne pap.