Ed Sheeran - 'X' Album Review

With the release of 'x' (pronounced "multiply") in 2014, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was catapulted to musical success. The album peaked at number 1 in fifteen countries and received positive reviews from music critics. It was the best selling album of 2014 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The leading single, 'Sing', was Sheeran's first UK number-one song.

For me, this album is the sound of 2014. The year I started secondary school, the year I began to regularly buy iTunes vouchers and the year which I bought this on CD.

Six years later, I am still obsessed with this album. Arguably, it is Ed Sheeran's best, if not the one that he is most well-known for.

The album begins with "One", a beautiful guitar ballad, and it sets the tone for the rest of 'x'. I'd say that this album takes you on a journey, and the first part of it is this song, slow and yet faster than guitar ballads usually are.

"I'm A Mess", the second song on 'x' is immediately different to "One" in that it sounds more like a song as opposed to a sung love letter. The music seems louder, almost, and not as personal. Sheeran's vocal skills are obvious here as he shows what he is truly capable of, and knowing what is on the rest of the album, this is just the beginning.

The first single released from the album, "Sing" was Sheeran's first number one, and it is easy to see why. It's catchy and has a beat which takes control of your feet from you and has you tapping away. This songs overtakes your body and just makes you want to dance. It's incredible that a song can have this kind of power, and I remember being a child of eleven and thinking "wow. This is music."

The fourth song, "Don't", I've heard, was written for Ellie Goulding. Once again, it's catchy, and you can't help but tap along as you sing along with Sheeran. It's a heartfelt song, but one that Sheeran has clearly mulled over and changed until it no longer feels like his story, but rather just one that he is telling for a friend - or that's how I see it, anyway. It doesn't seem personal enough for Sheeran, and for this reason, is perhaps one of my least favourites on 'x'. It isn't Sheeran-y enough for me, despite it being one of his defining songs.

"Nina" consists of Sheeran confessing to another old lover that touring is his life and he's not going to give it up for her. The piano in the back doesn't seem to fit in and as a result, it stands out, but somehow it completes the track. Without it, the song wouldn't be complete.

Past song number six, "Photograph", are the love songs. Made famous by artists such as Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift, the next songs are all telling individual stories of heartbreak but they all seem to amount to the same thing; love doesn't last.

'x' seems to have a very sombre, heartbroken feel to it. With hindsight and long Google searches, it can be found that Sheeran wrote the songs on his second studio album for old flames and for great loves which had burned out in the three years after the release of his first album, '+'.

Undoubtedly one of my favourite songs of all time, the eleventh song on 'x' is "Thinking Out Loud", which is simply beautiful. A guitar ballad for which Sheeran is best known and, some might argue, best at, it is a piece of art. The music video is also gorgeous and can be seen below.

This album, 'x', is full of beautiful love songs and irresistible toe-tapping tunes. I would say this is his best album, though Ed Sheeran has without a doubt done some wonderful things with music in the years since its release.