No.6 Collaborations Project

Sheeran has delivered a solid commercial showcase of the power of contemporary pop music brands.

It is unlike anything Sheeran has done before: exhilarating, risk-taking, hip-hop-inflected pop that succeeds at every turn.

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

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.

It’s less an album, more a collection of savvy and generally savvy collaborations which blurs traditional genre boundaries unselfconsciously and acknowledges that Latin-pop is the sound of the near-future. Most of the time, it’s a credit to Sheeran’s songwriting skills and well-honed persona.

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.

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.

It sees Sheeran in maestro mode, experimenting with, if not quite commanding, different genres, but ultimately it’s not really about him: the stronger the collaborator the better the song.

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.

Sheeran never feels at the forefront of these songs. Rather, he acts like a diehard fan at the front his favorite artist’s concert. He’s an admirer; failing to push the art forward.

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.

This total mess of an album is completely his fault. It's lazy, simultaneously boring and upsetting, with the emotional depth of an Adam Sandler film.

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