Ed Sheeran - No.6 Collaborations Project

Ed Sheeran
No.6 Collaborations Project
2019
Spotify

I had my guns cocked and loaded when I heard the first few notes of this new album from Ed Sheeran. The British songboi has been relatively quiet as of late but has finally returned with a collaborations project. Like I am with a lot of Ed Sheeran's work I am of two minds about this record. On one hand there are some really nice tracks like the albums opener featuring Khalid. On the other hand however there are some absolute turds like "South of the Border". Now maybe Ed Sheeran has traveled south of the border, hell he may have even performed in Central America, but this is the most pandering latin inspired shit I have ever heard. In what world does a Camilla Cabello and Cardi B. collaboration with Ed Sheeran make sense? I know Sheeran likes to lean into his hip hop friendships, but here they are the most corny they have ever been. Each rapper He pairs with seems to dumb their stuff down for Sheeran's younger audience. Chance the Rapper is abysmal on his track "Cross Me" some kind of stupid reference to not letting anyone cross your woman. Just in case I thought maybe I could find a glimmer of hope in this record the collaboration with Grime artist Stormzy comes on and its... so bad. I know they may be into this shit in London, but stateside nothing sounds more like a cheap imitation of hip hop than Grime. This album tries so fucking hard to give everyone a little something that it ends up alienating nearly everyone else. When Sheeran says "we ain't hit a rave in awhile" on "Take Me back to London" my eyes rolled so hard in my head I almost fell over.

Just to ensure you get the bends the next song "best Part of Me" is this acoustic and piano driven love song about someone loving you when you can't love yourself. The message and the song feel very Ed Sheeran, and has that wonderful emotional twinge He is so so good at. The track with Justin Bieber just kinda sounds like two of the same dude doing the exact same fucking thing. The thing about Ed Sheeran is he is much better as an outsider. When he tries to insert himself into anything and everything it dilutes the things He is actually good at. Even the production on this album feels generic. Shockingly the star of this whole record is 50 cent. He seems more comfortable and more confident in his own skin even if the song is a little corny. The album closes on "BLOW", which parades around as some kind of rock anthem but feels just as anemic as the rest of the record. The song features Chris Stapleton and Bruno Mars, a collaboration out of someone's nightmare for sure. This album is something, but something good it certainly is not. Save for a few bright moments No.6 Collaborations Project is a lame duck.

5.0 out of 10