Ed Sheeran

No.6 Collaborations Project

The affable everyman dabbles in grime, hip-hop, balladry and Latino love songs as he zooms down the middle of the road to world domination.

Overall, ‘No 6 Collaborations Project’ is an eclectic mix of songs, some familiar, some forgotten after the first listen and some deeply impactful.

No.6 is defined in large part by Sheeran’s earnest attempts to incorporate hip hop styles and signifiers into his music ... but it’s too big a stretch for him to convincingly pull off.

Its glassy, placid groove isn't a reflection of his blandness, but how Sheeran knows that this is the sound that defines global pop in 2019.

A cynic would call this hotchpotch of genres and guests a laser-guided exercise in streaming monopoly, a credibility-by-osmosis playlist primed for summer dominance. And that person would be 100% correct.

Few releases have been as baldly transparent and destined for ubiquity as No.6, which has all the conspicuous mining of a Drake album, but very little of the finesse or cultural fluency.

Because he spent the whole album trying too hard, it falls flat, overall. This is an experiment that could have worked — but, ultimately, didn’t.

It would be easier to love the Sheeran who says he bites his nails and tells the truth, if it wasn’t part of so much humblebragging about how much money he’s made and how “gifted” he is.

For whatever reason, Sheeran opts to spend the entirety of No.6 Collaborations Project strenuously avoiding his strengths.

On this record, he’s taking a stab at, well, every genre. It doesn’t pay off, though, because this effort results in a sense of emptiness, an abyss of authenticity or real feeling.