Ed Sheeran album “-” and series “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” released

The new album of the British author and performer Ed Sheeran “-” within a month after the release took first place in the charts of most countries where there are charts in principle. Igor Gavrilov believes that the key to success was not only the quality of the songs, but also the ability of Ed Sheeran to convert his difficult personal life into songs, and then pack them into a bright media wrapper.

There are only two countries where Ed Sheeran’s fifth album “-” (read as subtract, that is, “subtraction”, “minus”) did not hit the top ten of the charts: these are Lithuania and Hungary. The rest of the world accepted the album with open arms, like the previous three. On the album “-” there are 14 songs created by the musician in the last three years. A video clip has been shot for each of these songs: Ed Sheeran, or rather, the company releasing his music, Warner Music, can afford it. But the adaptation of his new material did not end there.

Together with the album and clips, a four-episode film “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” was released. In English, the name is written like this: “Ed Sheeran: +The? Sum? Of = It- All”. That is, the spaces between the words are inscribed with the signs of mathematical operations, which were the names of all Sheeran’s albums in the order of their release. The viewer is immediately told that this film is a summing up of the career of a 32-year-old star. The signs are over, now there will be something else.

This isn’t the first documentary trying to explain the phenomenon of Ed Sheeran’s popularity. A few years ago, he became the subject of the film “Songwriter”, which was directed by his cousin Murray Cummings. The Songwriter used techniques, many of which were adopted by The Sum of It All directors Ricky Valentine and David Sauter. Actually, it would be strange if the film, covering the entire career of the singer, would not have home videos, filming of stadium concerts and a chronicle of the touring routine.

However, Ed Sheeran’s life hardships, from which his new songs grew, became the dramaturgical engine of the mini-series. All misfortunes occurred in one month – February 2022. The film crew that got together to film Subtract had to film Ed Sheeran coping with the death of his close friend, producer Jamal Edwards, coping with the news of his wife Cherry Seaborn’s cancer, and putting on a formal suit to go to court, where he is accused of plagiarism.

Jamal Edwards, to whom the series called “Loss” is dedicated, was for Ed Sheeran not just a friend and collaborator. He was his link to grime culture. For Sheeran, it is very important that he was accepted by the hip-hop scene, this is discussed in detail in the episode of preparing a duet with Eminem for the ceremony of inducting the American rapper into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But even more important is his long-term partnership with his black compatriot Stormzy, who in 2018 took part in Ed Sheeran’s famous concert series at Wembley Stadium. It is very important for the authors of the film to show that the red-haired pop singer has a deep spiritual relationship with him. “You can often hear from an artist: “I want to create freely!” – Shares life wisdom Stormzy. – And immediately after that: “By the way, how are the sales?”. And Sheeran replies: “The moment in your career is very important when you create something that you can just shut up for!” – “To the point, bro!”

Sheeran worries and cries more over Jamal Edwards’ untimely departure than over his wife’s diagnosis. Maybe because there is no clear certainty with the diagnosis. Or the authors do not want to talk about the disease in too much detail. In any case, the treatment took place simultaneously with Cherry’s second pregnancy, and this fact alone is enough for the viewer to worry about her. Toward the end of the film, we learn that everything was as serious as possible, and the message that the disease has receded in the finale partly reduces the whole tragedy of the picture.

The third cause for stress – litigation over the authorship of Ed Sheeran’s most popular song “Shape Of You” – has been given the least attention. It is known that the lawsuit was filed by musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue, who found similarities between “Shape Of You” and their song “Oh Why”. The prosecution, as Sheeran tells in the film, could not believe that Ed Sheeran wrote the greatest hit of the era on his own, in an hour and a half, and not copied from obscure authors. This topic is so important that it was devoted to a huge article in a recent issue of The New Yorker magazine by leading researcher of popular culture John Seabrook (see Kommersant of June 23, 2017). Seabrook’s main thesis is: “Most pop songs are made from other pop songs.”

But Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All says very little about the industrial side of the singer phenomenon. It is extremely interesting to watch how, together with producer Fred Again .. (real name Frederick Gibson), he creates the song “F64” in memory of Jamal Edwards, who dreamed of recording a 64-line rap recitative. But when an artist collects four Wembleys in a row or in the first week after the release of his album tops almost all the charts, it’s not just his talent for creating hits from experiences. Hundreds of professionals working on these records live a boring, non-public life. They don’t make movies about them. And it would be interesting.