Ed Sheeran - The A Team

January 02, 2012 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

Ed Sheeran is an uprising new artist, who has already won lots of awards and it looks like he'll win a few more. He started releasing in 2011, this being his first single, and all of his singles have made the top 5 in the UK chart so far, he also has a debut number one album. He will definitely be around for quite some time

This song was written by Ed Sheeran himself, which suggests he has a lot of meaning to the words he sings. This is what I admire in an artist, because the whole song has a strong emotional feeling to the artist. And that is what makes it special. The song is about needing money to get by, and some people will do anything to get that money, but the anything bit is neither pleasant or exciting, and the person clearly doesn't like it.

The music video is PERFECT. It directly links in with the song and makes it clear what Ed Sheeran wants to get across. This song is his highest chart position to date, at number 3, and I reckon the music video has a lot to do with it. However there are a few things I don't like about it, and that is what I'm going to explore.

First off, my little bug bear, is that it is in black and white. I know this is an effect used to display more emotion or to make it look old, but it always gets on my nerves, because we have colour TV, and so you should be able to make a video emotional in colour. This also suggests that in colour it wasn't that emotional, and so they decided upon the black and white effect.

Some bits are also a little vivid, some children who may watch the music channels in the daytime, might wonder exactly what is going on. The person in the video, is portrayed by Stella MacDonald, and she shows off her acting skills in this music video, could she also be someone we see somewhere in the future?

I like the fact that Ed Sheeran appears and buys a "Big Issue" off her, but clearly it isn't enough, and she has to sell herself. As far as I'm aware of, no complaints appeared about this video, but you would have expected it, because she commits suicide at the end. There are videos out there (such as Britney Spears' "Criminal") that has been complained about for far less than what's in this video.

Overall I do like the song, it's soulful and meaningful, it's accompanying music video fits perfectly and although I am not happy about some of the things shown, it directly links with the song. It is controversial and that is usually a good thing in a music video. There are bits I don't like, so I've dropped a star, but that is all, and I hope I come to review more of Ed Sheeran's music videos in the future.