Ed Sheeran - Play

Another critic bashing Ed Sheeran (and yes, I will) — how original, you might think. Maybe it’s not original… just like Ed Sheeran’s new music.

A fresh wave of dad-pop from Ed Sheeran has reached our shores.

After releasing - (Subtract) in 2023, Ed Sheeran made a rather loud exit from Atlantic Records — the label that had been his home from the very start of his career, the one that gave him massive promo and turned him into the manufactured radio superstar he is today. Soon after going independent, he put out Autumn Variations on his own label. Creatively (and commercially), it was a failure — or rather just another one of his albums without excessive promo — but at that stage of his career, stepping aside and doing something personal, something “for himself,” actually seemed like a respectable move.

But no. We tend to forget that Ed Sheeran is one of the most numbers-driven artists in the industry. He’s the kind of musician who has practically sold his craft to a formula, working like a machine for the last decade. And what does he do after one misstep? He quickly runs back to Atlantic Records, so they can once again push his songs onto every radio station and invest in playlisting with his attempt to reach the widest audience possible. And that’s how we end up with Play.

On this album, Sheeran teams up yet again with Johnny McDaid, the man behind nearly all his past records. We also get Blake Slatkin, known for occasional strong pop tracks, and big Ariana Grande collaborator Ilya. The whole thing feels like Sheeran hitting reset. And what does that reset mean? It means we get Ed Sheeran rewriting his old hits — only worse. The result sounds forced, predictable, and, dare I say something I usually avoid in reviews — boring.

Almost every song here feels like a callback to something he’s already done — something we might have once loved. Remember when Sheeran rapped over pop beats? Here’s “Opening” and “A Little More”, you should love it, right? You liked “Photograph”? Here’s “Old Phone” and “Camera”. Remember the “Lego House” video with Rupert Grint? Watch “A Little More”. Want versions of “Shape of You”? Or “Shivers”? Or “Dive”? Don’t worry — there are plenty of cheap copies here. And of course, there’s the 58th attempt to recreate his wedding-ballad megahit “Thinking Out Loud”. Alongside the obvious candidate “The Vow”, there are at least three other tracks trying to hit that same tune — and failing.

Listening to Play, one question keeps coming back: why? Why make these songs when the originals are still around? The album stumbles between half-baked variations on “Heaven”, shallow love confessions, bland ballads like “For Always” or “Slowly”, and tracks like “Symmetry”, with a hook so weak that even Ava Max would probably turn it down as too redundant.

And the saddest part is that I do like Ed Sheeran. I think he’s a genuinely likable guy, funny, and I still hold his first two albums in warm regard. Back then, he was an exciting rising artist with his own vision, someone bringing a fresh spark into pop. But once he tapped into the commercial potential of his own formula, he abandoned every trace of artistic curiosity in favor of being successful. The last five albums sound like they were created purely to chase numbers. And sure, many artists work like that — it’s a business. But when you can hear the business part of show business in the music, something has gone wrong. And when an artist treats their audience like fools, it’s not a pleasant experience.

Play feels like a lazy attempt to just put something out for the sake of staying relevant. Ed Sheeran is throwing songs at the wall in hopes that at least a couple will stick.

For me, nothing stuck. Will TikTok, playlists, and radio manufacture another round of faux-hits out of this mess? Will see.

3.8/10