By: James Southworth
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Out of all the big pop artists that I am willing to defend as more than just mainstream sellouts, Ed Sheeran is one of the first that tended to come to mind for me. Now, I won't deny that Sheeran knows how to write songs that appeal to a majority. But, more often than some of his other contemporaries, he's able to make songs that feel more interesting and memorable. This was especially the case on "Multiply", easily his best album. While I initially sung praises for "Divide", that album has soured on me considerably. There are still great songs on it (especially "Castle On The Hill" and "Galway Girl"), but a lot of the album comes across as quite forgettable. Sheeran has seemed to be disliked by people lately, and one can maybe understand why. He's mainly done guest features with other artists (Eminem and Taylor Swift most prominently come to mind for me), and at best they've been confusing, at worst quite bad. So, it's not too surprising that he would draw more ire for doing an album which just seems like a way for him to get as much radio play as possible. After all, it's filled with some of the biggest pop acts, so it's easy to see that this would be a way for Sheeran to make easy money. However, for me the album isn't that offensive. Unfortunately, the project still can't help feeling messy and overall unmemorable.
Now, I can't deny that there are good songs on here. There might be more I like here than the average person, because I do generally like Ed's personality. He can have enough of a gravitas to put on a bigger than life personality, but he can also be intimate and relatable when he wants to. It seems like these two things would be hard to navigate, but I've felt that Sheeran has traversed them decently enough on his other albums. Opening track "Beautiful People" proves to be one of the best collaborations here. I think that Ed and Khalid are actually pretty logical fits for one another, and this song proves that pretty solidly. In fact, I think this is the best track on the album. Musically, it has a nice, relaxing beat that the two artists are able to sing over well. It creates a nice atmosphere that is sure to be appreciated by a widespread audiences. Content-wise, I enjoy the lyrics of this song quite a bit. I think the sentiments are really nice- that these two people don't live up to what people say is "beautiful", and they're completely fine with that. The lyrics are simplistic but bring across the theme in an effective enough way: "Inside the world of beautiful people/Champagne and rolled-up notes/Prenups and broken homes/Surrounded, but still alone/Let's leave the party".
The second album single "Cross Me" is also solid enough. I'm not necessarily in love with it, but I can't deny that it was already in my head on first lesson. The bouncy beat in the background is incredibly fun, and PnB's hook has a really memorable quality to it. I found Chance The Rapper's purposefully cheesy rap about protecting his girlfriend from other leering people to be fun in just the right way. In fact, I'd say he's the highlight of this track. "Take Me Back To London" has some really solid flows from Stormzy, who makes this song have a delightfully British flavor to it. In fact, this seems to be a throwback to the grime style of music that Sheeran did on his early-career "Collaborations 5" EP. "Best Part Of Me" feels like Ed Sheeran at his most genuine, and is certainly a better love song than the obnoxiously sentimental "Perfect". This song continues to convince me that YEBBA is an artist to keep my eye on. She was great in her features on Mark Ronson's "Late Night Feelings", and she's great here. Other highlights include "Antisocial" (with some of Travis Scott's most fun rapping I've heard from him) and the big surprise that is "Blow". This song jarred me quite a bit, as it's a pure rocker in every sense of the word. Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton get to show off their vocal and guitar chops here (Mars's guitar solo is great), and it's a true delight to hear. It ends the album off with quite a bang.
Unfortunately, for all the legitimate good that is on this album, there is a lot of stuff here that just doesn't work. Since this is a collaborations project, it's a given that this album is gonna be messy sound-wise. There are stylistic shifts from song to song, which can give one significant whiplash. I hope it wasn't Ed's intent to make an album that sounds cohesive, because if it was he failed at that attempt spectacularly. There are many songs here that are eye roll worthy. The song can also have some thematic contradictions. Right after the great "Beautiful People", one of the worst songs appears in "South of the Border". I think this song is trying to sound seductive and sexy, but it's hard to do so when none of the artists sound invested. Ed's singing here isn't particularly interesting. Camila Cabello's voice is fine enough, but I can't help but think that she was on autopilot the whole time for this song. Cardi B is particularly weak here, sounding like she only came to the song just to get a nice paycheck. In fact, for a lot of these weaker songs, that feels like the case. "Remember The Name" is far to cheesy for my taste, with 50 Cent and Eminem's awkwardly written lyrics really ruining the song for me. Eminem's lyrics are filled with far too many corny puns for me, and 50 Cent's voice here has an incredibly odd quality to it. I can't place my finger on it, but it just doesn't work for me.
"Feels" is easily the worst song on the album. Young Thug is absolutely awful here, with his autotuned singing being one of the most painful things I've heard all year. Ed Sheeran's flows here don't work well, either. J Hus's here isn't anything to write home about either. It's quite forgettable. "Put It All On Me" with Ella Mai rubs me the wrong way. It seems to be having this idea of putting all your demons on another person as a romantic act. To me, that feels more like a rather toxic relationship. There's nothing wrong with being honest about your faults to another person, but asking them to be the only one that helps you out with those flaws seems like a recipe for disaster. Also, Ed and Ella are fine here vocally, but I don't really feel any chemistry. "I Don't Care" is a fitting title for the song. That's all the description this incredibly generic song deserves. The rest of the cuts here aren't really even worth talking about. "Nothing On You", "I Don't Want Money", "1000 Nights" and "Way to Break My Heart" all come back to back. They create a very forgettable portion of the album where I found myself tuning out more and more with every listen. The saving grace for the ending of the album is "Blow", but it can't entirely redeem all the throwaway filler that came before it.
As a whole, Ed Sheeran's "No 6. Collaborations Project" isn't awful. It's definitely not comparable to some of the trash I've heard over the past two months. Unfortunately, June and July haven't been conducive to particularly great music. This album goes right along with many of the uninteresting releases I've heard these past two months. The easiest thing to do with this release is to cherry pick the good songs and just forget about the rest. I'm sure this album will have a lot of success on the Billboard Hot 100, so expect it there, for better or for worse. This release is just okay, and I probably won't be returning to it anytime soon- save for some select songs.
Favorite Songs: "Beautiful People", "Antisocial", "Best Part of Me", "Blow"
Least Favorite Songs: "Feels", "I Don't Care", "South of the Border", "Remember the Name", "I Don't Want Money"
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