After disappearing for quite some time, Ed Sheeran surprises the world with new music to kick off the new year. Sheeran, a singer/songwriter, erupted onto the music scene within the last half decade with a powerful, mellow debut “+” followed by an explosive, multi-platinum sophomore album “x” (pronounced multiply). Continuing his quest with a hip-hop vibe in the studio, Sheeran released two singles previewing his latest creation, titled “”.  

Captivating millions of people with a Martin LX1E, a loop pedal, and an awe-inspiring voice, Sheeran recently made a return to the limelight after his brief hiatus away from all forms of social media. With previous success from first two albums, fans became overwhelmingly eager to hear anything and everything from Sheeran. Then January 6th, he delivered.

Beginning with the newest tracks on the third album, “Castle on the Hill,” Sheeran displays some of his more honest writing.  Discussing some past troubles and nostalgia for wanting to be home, we learn that Sheeran desired and desperately needed a downtime away from the grind of being in the public eye. After three consecutive years of straight touring and non-stop public appearances, he proved to be deserving of a break. “Castle on the Hill” provides audiences with some perspective, beautifully crafted Sheeran himself as per usual.  

On the other hand, “Shape of You,” completely abandons the usual Ed Sheeran persona of peace and tranquility with tear-provoking lyrics. Bringing his evocative side out, we find him asking for promiscuous love. The lyrics demonstrate contradistinction away from his wheelhouse of typically sweet, honest, deep songs; however,  he remains within his simple comfort zone in terms of the construction of the instrumental side of song production. Paying attention closely, you can hear that in the studio he brings this “Justin Timberlake-y” style of pop, but live he puts forth a completely different tone of sincerity, a mood that rejects the commercialism mainstream nature of Hollywood.

Now we wait. Sheeran unpredictably released singles with no information about the rest of  “÷” (yes, as Sheeran acts as the perceived inventor of math, it will be called “Divide”). After several appearances on radio stations across the U.K., there strangely hasn’t been any dates signifying the release of the full record. However, he did say there will be many guests on the new record. While on an extended vacation, Sheeran mentioned that many artists collaborated with him in numerous jam sessions at his house, introducing more outside influence and eclecticism to the new album.  

Did Sheeran lose his small-town pure and truthful English “identity”? Viewing his progression from a singer/songwriter to a ginger rapping pop-star, Sheeran isn’t returning to the very characteristic that shaped his career in the first place as he innovates and changes artistically. Considering he toured his first record for two years straight, he may be a little burnt out on the songs that got him to where he stands-on top.

All we can do is sit back and watch waiting now.  The way Sheeran has progressed in a quick fashion imports an ironic predictable unpredictability.  Sheeran displays that he will keep us guessing. Constantly experimenting with multiple genres, we will never label him as a one genre artist, and maybe that’s his true identity: fearless and evolving.