Ed Sheeran ‘Play’ Review: A Quick Return to Familiar Musical Territory

September 12, 20254 min read

Even at his most popular, Ed Sheeran’s albums tend to offer a mixed bag. Take 2017’s ‘÷’, for example—the album that included the seemingly improbable hit, ‘Galway Girl’. Despite its sugary acoustic ballads, the adventurous spirit of the record encouraged open-minded listeners to discover a blend of rock, Ghanaian highlife, and an infectious Irish jig.

You may not always appreciate the results of his musical experiments, but it’s refreshing to see someone as prominent as Sheeran willing to step out of his comfort zone. In contrast, he often falters when he takes a more autopilot approach. For instance, 2023’s ‘Autumn Variations’ was a somewhat dreary collection, lacking the vibrancy fans would hope for.

While general reception has never been his strong suit, the reviews for ‘Autumn Variations’ were particularly tough, marking it as his lowest-charting album on the Billboard 200 in over a decade. Although Sheeran has expressed skepticism about the value of music reviews, the release of his eighth album seems to signal a change: contrasting his previous bland sound, he has introduced lively pre-release singles like the Persian-inspired ‘Azizam’ and the Punjabi-influenced ‘Sapphire’, his collaboration with Indian icon Arijit Singh. These tracks suggested he might be returning to his genre-blending roots, which served him so well with ‘÷’, his best-selling album.

However, it’s disheartening when the opening track of ‘Play’, aptly titled ‘Opening’, unveils yet another soft, introspective ballad. Yet the lyrics manage to pierce through any lingering skepticism: “I have cried at my brother’s grave / I have shaken hands with my wife’s surgeon.” Following that, the track introduces a brittle beat as Sheeran shifts from his gentle crooning to a more rapid-fire delivery. While it may be off-putting to hear a white artist from a privileged background attempt to rap, the genuine emotion in his words can be compelling. He directly addresses past plagiarism controversies with lines like, “Two of them tried it; I won both cases.”

Throughout ‘Play’, Sheeran tackles deeply personal subjects, such as the life-threatening illness that impacted his wife during pregnancy and the tragic loss of his close friend, Jamal Edwards. Despite the heavy themes, the sound gives the sense of recovering from darkness. The album features some lightweight soul numbers like ‘A Little More’ and ‘The Vow’, Bon Iver-inspired folktronica in ‘Heaven’, and even a high-energy psytrance track, ‘Don’t Look Down’, produced in collaboration with Fred Again.

However, while Sheeran does dabble in genre-blending, it doesn’t feel as committed as his efforts on ‘÷’. The album includes numerous familiar ballads, some of which resonate more than others. For example, ‘Old Phone’, inspired by a sentimental text from Edwards, stands out as genuinely touching. Nevertheless, ‘Play’—which seems to kick off a new series of albums inspired by remote control buttons—manages to leverage his diverse style to some extent.