For the past decade, Ed Sheeran has become the most popular artist in terms of streaming. His single, “Shape of You,” is approaching 3 billion streams on Spotify and his album “÷” is the most streamed on Spotify overall. While his pockets have been getting bigger, Sheeran’s music has become the standard for boring music.

Ed Sheeran recently released his new album, “=,” on Oct. 29, 2021, under Atlantic Records. 

Like most of his previous work, the structure of the album is faulty and broken. The tracks don’t sound like an album constructed upon the ebbs and flows of the sound. Instead, it is as if Sheeran tried to make a mellow, washed-out project but he had to throw random singles in an attempt to score on his streaming success. The singles Sheeran released do not sound like the rest of the album at all, which can turn listeners away. 

The first track, “Tides,” was an adequate start to the album. Yes, the song sounds like the background to a car commercial, but it is not terrible compared to the rest of the album. The song offers a glimpse of Sheeran’s music trying to make the listener feel something. 

The album then immediately dives into the dumpster fire that is the track “Shivers.” The song sounds like the equivalent of what would happen if you told an AI to produce the most basic-sounding pop song in existence. The plucking of strings accompanied by claps from a drum machine doesn’t mix well, making the track sound formulaic. 

I can say the same thing about the song “Bad Habits” too. Most songs on the album sound like they were created by a computer to maximize profit instead of  artistic merit. 

The track “2step” is by far the worst song on the album. The song wants to make me take two steps and jump into an oncoming train. The producer who thought it was a good idea to utilize a trap beat in this song needs to be fired. The song’s percussion sounds eerily similar to Drake’s “In My Feelings,” which I believe was done on purpose to try and drag in the listeners that popularized that song. Ever since I heard that song, those specific percussion sounds pierce my skull like a 50-caliber bullet every time I hear them.

This album bored me so much that I can barely remember anything I listened to. In a way, the poor design of these tracks works in Sheeran’s favor. The songs aren’t annoying but are just devoid of human emotion. It’s perfect music for parents who don’t know how to find music on Spotify, so they’ll just click on Ed Sheeran’s face on the homepage while they fall asleep in traffic heading back from their nine-to-five job.

Score: 3.7/10