COOK: Diverse ‘Divide’ exemplifies Ed Sheeran’s maturing artistic talent

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SOPHIA COOK

Ed Sheeran continues to impress fans with his wide range of diversity and ability to make seemingly everything sound beautiful no matter the lyrics or tempo. Sheeran released his third album, Divide, on March 3 after a pretty long hiatus where he practically fell off the grid to escape and find new inspiration. Needless to say this break proved effective.

Fans can always count on Sheeran to produce various genres of  tunes from soulful ballads to acoustic hip hop/rapping tracks. He’s incredibly diverse and actually pulls it off.  He’s done exactly that in Divide. He’s created so many types of tempos, vibes and lyrical pieces of art.

Tracks like “Barcelona,” one of my favorites, has a very latin feel (expectedly) and an extremely contagious rhythm that you can’t help but groove to. The incorporation of different instruments to create authenticity shows the attention to detail that he gives his songs.  Listening to this really does make you feel like you’re dancing in the streets of Barcelona.

Sheeran also features tracks such as “Nancy Mulligan”and “Galway Girl,” which both have very ‘Irish Jig’ sounding tempos along with instruments like fiddles. These are the funner, more dancey, feel-good songs.

“Castle on the Hill” was one of the singles released prior to the full album release and this is the track that really got me giddy about the rest of the song. This is one of  those top down on the highway, making memories with friends, emotionally-rich songs with a magnificent beat and tempo – highly recommend.

Classic Sheeran songs are often ones that are slow, fluid, heartfelt ballads that tug on your heartstrings and make you miss the ex you never had. Every time an Ed Sheeran album comes out, there’s always gonna be at least one song that’s gonna make you cry every time, he’s really good at stuff like that. This album that song is “Supermarket Flowers”, which happens to be written from the point of  Sheeran’s mom, after the death of his grandmother. Needless to say if  this song doesn’t make you cry, you have no emotions.

This album is yet another fantastic piece of work from Ed Sheeran and i’m really proud that his quality of songs has not decreased throughout the years but has gotten stronger as he grows as an artist.