X (Ed Shiran's album)

Work on the new album began at a time when the preparation of the first disc + was just completed. Moreover, the first track was recorded in a hotel room with Johnny McDade during the concert tour of his group Snow Patrol ^[19] . Later, the recordings took place 3 years in various studios and locations around the world with various well-known producers such as Rick Rubin (who worked with Eminem , Jay-Z , Red Hot Chilli Peppers and other stars), Farrell ( Daft Punk , Robin Tick , NERD ), Benny Blanco ( Rihanna , Wiz Khalifa ) and Jeff Basker ( Alisha Keese , Jay-Z), who added color to the work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid ( Snow Patrol ) and Jake Gosling (who produced the debut CD "+") ^[20] .

"One" was the first song written for the new album. Written in guitar style during a concert tour in a hotel room in Perth, Australia, in 2011, it was the last track dedicated to Alice's former girlfriend, which was the subject of all the love songs of his previous album ^{[21] [22] [23]} .

“I'm a Mess” was the last song written during session recordings along with Rubin and one of the two about a new friend Shiran. He himself described it as a rather simple song “composed in the soul” ^{[23] [24]} . The second song about the new girlfriend was “Don't,” and Sheeran himself said that she was “not 100 percent Taylor Swift,” although he sang this track for her ^[25] . “Don't” was planned as the first single from the album, but he decided that the chorus (especially in the “Don't f-with my love” line) was not suitable for the debut single. At first the song was recorded with Benny Blanco , then again with Rick Rubin , and both producers together put together the final version ^[22] .

“Nina” was written with Johnny McDade , and it became the first joint track for this couple for a new album. According to McDaid himself, this is a “self-deprecating” love song, “where the hero basically calls on someone and advises her not to be with him” ^[22] .

Photograph was also written with McDade during a trip with his Snow Patrol band in May 2012, the “timeless ballad”. The song’s start was given by piano melodies on MacDade’s laptop, then Sheeran began to sing along ^[20] . Sheeran claimed that this song gives a new career path, and this song will pull out the disc, even if the whole album fails ^{[23] [26]} . Described as the Shiranovsky version of the Angels song by Robbie Williams, this track was called “a ballad with big drums located in New York” ^[12] .

In order to promote the new album, Ed Sheeran performed on several TV shows. On April 12, 2014, for the first time, he presented the songs “Sing” and “Don't” in a live performance for the first time on Saturday Night Live Show ^[27] . April 16th was the exclusive acoustic performance of “Take It Back” on SB.TV ^[28] . On April 27, Sheeran sang the song “Sing” at the Logie Awards ceremony , the annual awards ceremony in Melbourne, Australia ^[29] .

The album received both positive and moderate reviews from music critics and online publications. The English-language website aggregator Metacritic , collecting reviews and reviews of music albums , gave a total rating of 70% (based on an analysis of 18 selected reviews), referring to “generally favorable reviews” ^[1] . For example, he earned praise from publications such as Q Magazine ^[12] , Time ^[24] , The Daily Telegraph , The Guardian , USA Today . The reviewer Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph newspaper gave the highest rating to the disk, five out of five stars, commenting on how Sheeran remains in his release as a real singer and songwriter, and that he carries the listeners with "emotional veracity and personal revelation." Jim Farber of the New York Daily News rated the album three stars out of five, noting that "Sheeran can write a melodic melodious melody and, obviously, there is something that some young girls love even more than appearance: the heart in his lyrics" . Moderate reviews were from Rolling Stone (John Dolan spoke like this: “the album’s name might have been XXX”, resulting in the rating of the album exactly three stars out of five) ^[7] , and The Independent negative (calling the album as “muddy "," Soft "," without wit or sexual attractiveness "and" truly boring ") ^[10] .

The album immediately debuted in first place in the UK with a circulation of 180,000 copies in the first week of release (the best result of 2014 in the United Kingdom at that time) ^[30] . The disc was in first place for four weeks in a row: the longest in 2014 (data for July) ^[31] .

In the United States, the album became the first singer in his career to lead the Billboard 200 charts in the US , making his debut at No. 1 with a circulation of 210,000 copies. Moreover, this meant the most successful debut of a pop album and the fourth overall for any disc of the year (as of July 2014) ^[32] .

Source - ^[39]

• Sheeran - producer on I See Fire, instrumentation and programming on Don't, vocals, guitar (acoustic and electric) and violin on I See Fire, clapping hands on I'm a Mess and Nina "
• Jake Gosling - producer, engineering, programming, and drums on One, I'm A Mess, Nina, The Man, Thinking Out Loud, Shirtsleeves, and Even My Dad Does Sometimes, percussion on “I'm a Mess”, “Nina”, “Thinking Out Loud” and “Shirtsleeves”, piano and clapping with your hands on “I'm a Mess” and “Nina”, synthesizers on “Nina”, Rhodes Piano on The Man, strings and horn on One, bass guitar on Even My Dad Does Sometimes
• Farrell - Producer on Sing and Runaway
• Benny Blanco - Producer, Instrumentation and “Don't” Programming
• Rick Rubin - producer on “Don't”, “Bloodstream”, “Tenerife Sea” and “Take It Back”, instrumentation and programming on “Don't”
• Johnny McDade - producer and engineering on “Afire Love” and “All of the Stars”, programming on “Afire Love”, keyboards on “Tenerife Sea” and “Bloodstream”, guitars, bass, backing vocals, percussion, piano on “ Afire love
• Jeff Basker - producer, piano, keyboards & bass guitar on "Photograph"

• edsheeran.com