Ed Sheeran, am i missing something?

emeldc

Like him or loathe him, his Toy Show appearance was a masterclass in PR. And I think he proved he could sing as well. I don't particularly like him but he's had a couple of good numbers. Fair play to him, I say.

fando

Knex. wrote: »

Music is subjective. Let people enjoy things.

No it's not. That's why you learn about Bach and Mozart at school.

The first time I ever heard of him was when he was on the late late toy show being absolutely lovely to that little girl and getting her to sing along
He seemed very sound and i like his music well enough. Cover of "guiding light" is lovely

murpho999

fando wrote: »

No it's not. That's why you learn about Bach and Mozart at school.

They only had average talent.

seachto7

machiavellianme wrote: »

Aren't the majority of bands/musicians at their most prolific periods in their 20s?
Can't think of many that peaked later.
I've a feeling that in 10 years time, folks will look back on Ed the same way as they do with David Gray or Damien Rice and not as a Springsteen, Neil Young or David Bowie.

Agreed

Robineen

Sam Kade wrote: »

He may as well when there are people willing to pay for them. Don Henley was in cork and Dublin last summer and people were cribbing that he was charging €90 a ticket. Don Henley is an international legend and then this back street busker charges a similar price and people are falling over themselves to get tickets. Sometimes I think it's the sheeple effect, a lot of people might not be gone on his singing but they will follow the crowd. This was clearly the case with Gareth brooks young ones that never even heard of him before were falling over themselves to get tickets.

Oh, for gawd's sake. :rolleyes:

People who use the term 'sheeple' need to be shot with balls of their own combined sh1t, snot and vomit.

andekwarhola

Gotta lol at the student union outrage about 'populist' singers and 'sheeple' from people no doubt still cherishing the quaint notion that rock music can still be completely original while listening to the 67th iteration of the Velvet Underground that 'you wouldn't have heard of'. :pac:

Purple Mountain

I blame Tubs for his Irish rise to fame! Remember he was on Toy Show 2 or 3 years ago and all the hype. Ted Sheeran and the surprise for the little girl.
Imo he was pretty unknown before then.

Robineen

Agricola wrote: »

For me he's the poster boy for modern music. There's no edge, no message, nothing to say bar a lot of high pitched pining soppy love songs.

Is it all love songs from him though? 'The A Team' isn't one, neither is 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' and they were both big songs for him.

I'm sticking up for him here despite not really liking his music because a lot of a criticism seems fairly lazy and just picking an easy target despite not seeming to know much about him. He's the new Coldplay in that regard. Actually no, the new Mumford and Sons.

Robineen

Arcade_Tryer wrote: »

Gary Barlow has written far superior songs than Ed Sheeran to put it in context.

I'd put them on a par. Take That are and were hugely popular and there very much is recognition of Gary Barlow's song-writing skills. It's not a little known secret!

Noveight

fando wrote: »

No it's not. That's why you learn about Bach and Mozart at school.

I never learned about either of those in school

Arne_Saknussem

andekwarhola wrote: »

Gotta lol at the student union outrage about 'populist' singers and 'sheeple' from people no doubt still cherishing the quaint notion that rock music can still be completely original while listening to the 67th iteration of the Velvet Underground that 'you wouldn't have heard of'. :pac:

Doing a lot of projecting there, those goddamn hipsters eh :pac:

Noveight

Purple Mountain wrote: »

Imo he was pretty unknown before then.

Appeared on the Toy Show November 2014. His tracks Thinking Out Loud and Sing had both been at number one in Ireland before that. His albums + and x had also topped the charts prior to the LLTS, as far back as 2012 even.

The LLTS appearance spurred him on here in Ireland but he was already well set up before then.

sabat

Sam Kade

Robineen wrote: »

Oh, for gawd's sake. :rolleyes:

People who use the term 'sheeple' need to be shot with balls of their own combined sh1t, snot and vomit.

What a disgusting individual you are, what sort of gun would you need for that ammo :rolleyes:

machiavellianme

Django99 wrote: »

I would compare him to those in the most important way, record sales and the success of his tours. In that regard he's not there yet but he's relatively young and new. Plenty of time to reach that level of fame.

The majority of any artists fans are teenagers, they are the people who buy the music and go to the gigs. That's the reason why, in 30 years, the same people who are going to Ed Sheeran this year will complain about the state of music. And so the cycle will continue.

Who buys them anymore?
Christ, Damien Rice sold 4m copies of his debut album O by the end of 2015.
Ed sheerans combined sales for both of his albums at that time was around 3m sales.
Somebody called Susan Boyle managed to shift 5m copies of their debut in one year in 2009 but there haven't been many other newcomers with that kind of output this millennium.
Something tells me he'll never sell as many albums as any of Springsteen, Young or Bowie and won't pack as many stadia either. The Music industry is far more fickle these days and those teenage girls won't stay young forever.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Don't really get him either tbh. I love singer songwriters but this guy to me seems painfully average in every department.

I suppose he's marketed more towards teenage girls (He has that geek chic vibe going, as opposed to being classically good looking) and his material consists of inoffensive, bland love songs.

Fair play to the guy though. I like to see real musicians and songwriters doing well as opposed to 'entertainers' like boy bands, girl bands etc.

dd972

He looks beyond Irish, can easily picture him coming out of Trinity College with his backpack and scarf wrapped round his neck heading for Doyle's with his pals.

PTH2009

hes the popular thing atm and the kids love him but he is not straight edge by any means. I like some of his songs but dont think i would go see him live or buy anything from him

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2969976/Ed-Sheeran-stumbles-BRITs-party-continues-party-6am-celebrate-double-win.html

Like every other irish gig theres bound to be bandwagoners who ruin the gig on real fans, talk through the quite songs, lads in there 30's out of there faces chatting up teen girls. He is actually popular with the middle aged aldults too

Arne_Saknussem

PTH2009 wrote: »

hes the popular thing atm and the kids love him but he is not straight edge by any means. I like some of his songs but dont think i would go see him live or buy anything from him

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2969976/Ed-Sheeran-stumbles-BRITs-party-continues-party-6am-celebrate-double-win.html

Like every other irish gig theres bound to be bandwagoners who ruin the gig on real fans, talk through the quite songs, lads in there 30's out of there faces chatting up teen girls. He is actually popular with the middle aged aldults too

This is what causes some people bafflement, teenagers have always lapped this kind of stuff up.

milehip

I've don't think I've ever heard any of his songs, but just by the look of him and I'm sure I'm missing nothing.

ToddyDoody

ronnie085 wrote: »

Average singer, average songwriter, go as far as saying he'd struggle to fill the local based on talent (in my opinion) yet he is one of the biggest deals at the moment. Victory for the PR hype machine? He's kinda Irish you know

One of my colleagues and six of her friends couldn't get tickets.

Seriously, concert promoters must be pissing themselves laughing all the way to the bank.

ronnie085

ronnie085 wrote: »

Average singer, average songwriter, go as far as saying he'd struggle to fill the local based on talent (in my opinion) yet he is one of the biggest deals at the moment. Victory for the PR hype machine? He's kinda Irish you know

I do think that Ed gets more of a craze/trend like following and its very social media driven. Comes across as a decent guy. Good singer but majority of his songs are corny as fúck. In a non social media world he'd be a blip on the landscape at most but due to the abundance of saddos competing with each other on social media, he has become a bigger deal than he actually is.

I can understand women liking him but there is grown men fighting over his tickets......jesus wept

mahamageehad

Lads, his five dates in Germany sold out in under 10 mins too. I like him, I saw him in the O2 (or the 3arena or whatever it's going by these days) a few years ago and I was blown away. I thought it was just pop shíte and I really wasn't expecting the live show to be so great. Tickets were only 30 or 40 then though. The boyfriend is 30 and normally into rock but has a soft spot for Ed. If you don't like him, don't go! Don't tar us all as teenage girls though, the demographic will be pretty broad. I was surprised so many young people brought tickets to Garth Brooks for example. I don't get that at all. But different strokes etc.

youreadthat

People talking about him like he's Justin Bieber ffs. Not every singer not ancient that you don't like is a result of an evil corporate PR machine. Lady Gaga is that, bland dance/pop with gimmicks. Ed's only gimmick is his audacity to play an instrument and get number ones in this era of bland singers who don't write or play.

SecretsOfEarth

youreadthat wrote: »

People talking about him like he's Justin Bieber ffs. Not every singer not ancient that you don't like is a result of an evil corporate PR machine. Lady Gaga is that, bland dance/pop with gimmicks. Ed's only gimmick is his audacity to play an instrument and get number ones in this era of bland singers who don't write or play.

What a talent and icon he is! You're so blinded by your desire to love 'authentic music!1!!!!1" and be noticed for it. :rolleyes:
Seeing as you mentioned her, Lady Gaga isn't just some machine for "bland dance/pop with gimmicks".
Lady Gaga has an incredible singing voice, can play piano and guitar (TWO instruments - OMG!), composes and writes many of her songs and engineered her entire image. She has released a jazz album with Tony Bennet and toured the album. Maybe, just maybe, she's more versatile than Ed! What a blasphemous thought!

Ulysses Gaze

Arne_Saknussem wrote: »

He's more David Essex than Bowie or Neil Young.

David Cassidy more like it.

riclad

theres not many good singers who write songs, play the guitar and
have a good live singing voice .so fair dues to him.
He has talent .he may not be to everyone,s taste.
so you judge a singer without listening to one song?
Yes lady gaga has loads of talent , when was the last time she had a hit.
She seems to have lost her mojo or the ability to write a good pop song.
Theres loads of people who can play 3-4 instruments who will be backing singers or who cannnot write a good pop sing.
Writing a song that is an international hit in europe and the usa is a very special talent.
Most love songs tend to be a bit corny or cliched .
i don,t a singer by jsut how many instruments they can play ,madonna
or elvis dont play any instruments but they still had loads of hits and
sell millions of records.
I think he can go on for at least another 10 years as he can sing and write songs ,he is not a one hit wonder.
And he seems like a nice down to earth bloke .

Arne_Saknussem

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

David Cassidy more like it.

Yeah i might have mixed them up, the lad who was in the Partridge Family.

machiavellianme

riclad wrote: »

theres not many good singers who write songs, play the guitar and
have a good live singing voice .so fair dues to him.
He has talent .he may not be to everyone,s taste.
so you judge a singer without listening to one song?
Yes lady gaga has loads of talent , when was the last time she had a hit.
She seems to have lost her mojo or the ability to write a good pop song.
Theres loads of people who can play 3-4 instruments who will be backing singers or who cannnot write a good pop sing.
Writing a song that is an international hit in europe and the usa is a very special talent.
Most love songs tend to be a bit corny or cliched .
i don,t a singer by jsut how many instruments they can play ,madonna
or elvis dont play any instruments but they still had loads of hits and
sell millions of records.
I think he can go on for at least another 10 years as he can sing and write songs ,he is not a one hit wonder.
And he seems like a nice down to earth bloke .

So they just had their guitars for show?
You couldn't have picked two worse examples.