Oh guys, it all sounds too good to be true and like wishful thinking.

Imo the whole Substract project was doomed from day 1, this was clearly an attempt of doing Folklore part 2 with same vision, same style, same producer

and while Ed might have an ear for melodies, his songwriting skills re lacklustre and tedious to say the least

we haven't heard it but I doubt he can pull it off

 

that doesn't mean he's over, he will sure go 100% back into pure bubblegum pop mode next and can be successful again.

 

 

Ed has never done bubblegum pop but OK

Maybe if Ed starts to decline he will finally chill out a bit and drop the LOOK AT ME ALWAYS strategy.

Maybe just maybe Ed made the album he wanted to make, something more personal and if that costs him sales I doubt it matters. He will go from untouchable to just very very successful. He will have huge tours, sell loads of albums, have hits.

 

This forums desperation for him to 'flop' is laughable. Especially seen as on Friday he is about to have his 14th number 1 single. Must be incredibly frustrating to constantly root for him to flop for him to be constantly bigger than Steps or whoever else you will buy 27 copies of and then be out the charts in 2 weeks.

 

 

The whole debate from both sides is so tired, who cares whether he flops or is a hit. Just block him on Spotify like I do and pretend he doesn't exist 😌

I definitely agree with those saying that if next time Ed waits 3-4 years before the next album and gathers a lot of material, he may easily come back to long-running number ones. He definitely has a talent of writing huge approachable pop numbers.

Life in old dog yet ask ed Sheeran

I don’t think he’ll stop having hits for a long time, and I don’t wish him to flop, I have bought all of his albums.

 

There has been a gradual decline in quality since x for me, as he sort of morphed himself from a singer/songwriter more into a popstar (although you could argue this started on Sing) so I’m really intrigued to hear this stripped back album from him. He did say Eyes Closed was an anomaly and I hope it is as I’m really keen to hear properly raw stuff from him, which he has delivered in the past but never in a really stripped back way.

 

Eyes Closed really does just feel like a leftover from the last album, he did say it was held back because it didn’t fit on there but I think it would have fit absolutely fine.

 

I suspect he’ll be well aware this will be commercially less successful. Even for how big and fantastic Folklore and Evermore were for Taylor, it’s Midnights that provided the huge sales and big chart hits. Lo-fi albums don’t generally sell in really high numbers these days.

 

 

Maybe just maybe Ed made the album he wanted to make, something more personal and if that costs him sales I doubt it matters. He will go from untouchable to just very very successful. He will have huge tours, sell loads of albums, have hits.

 

This forums desperation for him to 'flop' is laughable. Especially seen as on Friday he is about to have his 14th number 1 single. Must be incredibly frustrating to constantly root for him to flop for him to be constantly bigger than Steps or whoever else you will buy 27 copies of and then be out the charts in 2 weeks.

 

This is so oddly defensive. Every single big artist's highs and lows are discussed at great length here, it's a chart forum. Nobody is even saying he's outright flopping, most are outwardly just stating that his very impressively long imperial phase is naturally coming to an end.

Maybe just maybe Ed made the album he wanted to make, something more personal

 

I mean, we know that to be true - he even said himself recently that every album he's ever made before this was made with the intention of commerce rather than being authentic or genuine.

Eyes Closed is Ed on autopilot. It has a weak melody and is very generic overall. Not surprised it is not connecting with audiences like his past hits have.

Did Ed really say eyes closed was leftover from equals ?

 

The song is about his depression after losing jamal who died February last year

 

equals came out in 2021 so the dates wouldn't add up

Did Ed really say eyes closed was leftover from equals ?

 

If it was leftover then I would imagine the idea of the song or a demo or something was there and he reworked it with new lyrics.

 

Obvs I don't know this for sure, but it's a possibility.

 

I think I read it was originally written as a break-up song, I suspect the lyrics were changed, but probably the backing track existed, at least in some form.

Good for him to have a near-decade long imperial phase really, it’s one of the longest I can ever remember. But you can see his stock is starting to fall now - tours aren’t selling out as quickly, album sales are considerably lower, singles sales and chart runs are gradually on the slide. He’s still huge but a more normal level of huge, not an untouchable level.

 

To be fair, he just needs to go away for a couple years and then come back with new radio/streaming friendly music and he'll be right back on top with multiweek #1s. His previous tour was the biggest ever at the time with huge attendance - so a lot of people got to see him. It's unfair to compare his current tour to it - although it is doing very well so far. He's just suffering from overexposure - which I never thought the day would come when that would happen. :lol: His album sales are considerably lower more so due to the market going down the drain. He's managed to outsell Adele and his most recent album will likely end up passing the 1 million mark at some point this year (it's still top 20 in the album chart). That's a massive feat that very few artists have been able to pass in recent years. The most recently released album to pass the 1 million mark was Lewis Capaldi's Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent I believe which was released in May 2019.

 

Not me defending Ed Sheeran though. :lol:

This is so oddly defensive. Every single big artist's highs and lows are discussed at great length here, it's a chart forum. Nobody is even saying he's outright flopping, most are outwardly just stating that his very impressively long imperial phase is naturally coming to an end.

 

No most are hoping/enjoying he is past his absolute highs, that is a big difference.

 

It just gets so tiresome to read posters who celebrate the success of say Sweet Melody going to number 1 for one week on the lowest sales for a number 1 in a decade, then decide 1 week at number 1 (potentially) on decent sales is nothing to write home about and a sign Ed is over.

Nobody says he’s over, he’s just coming down from an insane high. And Little Mix have never ever been on the high so that #1 was a success. Everything is relative.

Isn't it the opposite though he so big everyone wanting to work with him that's led to the "overexposure"

No most are hoping/enjoying he is past his absolute highs, that is a big difference.

 

It just gets so tiresome to read posters who celebrate the success of say Sweet Melody going to number 1 for one week on the lowest sales for a number 1 in a decade, then decide 1 week at number 1 (potentially) on decent sales is nothing to write home about and a sign Ed is over.

I do think you are the more obsessive one, I can't recall a single post of yours that isn't about Ed Sheeran tbh.

 

No one is saying he's over, he's not, yes some may be more hyperbolic but it is a come down from previous success. That's all, but continue throwing out non comparable artists like Little Mix who although huge never received dizzying heights of succes that Ed did or Steps just because people on here like them. It's weird.