Ed Sheeran: Azizam Review-a Intercultural Persian experiment … which sounds incredibly English | Ed Sheeran
ANDThe new single by D Sheeran arrives in an interesting point of his career. His latest albums, the changes in subtraction and autumn of 2023, did not feel dissimilar from a riff on the folklore of the pandemic era of Taylor Swift and submarine: two albums published in the same year, produced by Aaron Dessner of the National, a little more woody and more discreet than a tone of the usual. Subtract in particular I liked the type of critical success that Sheeran’s work rarely attracts. Sheeran’s first albums were also not to produce a trace of billions of billions: its commercial zenith, divides of 2017, contained five, including Shape of You, one of the only two songs in history must exceed 4 billion of flows on Spotify.
Perhaps a silent commercial response was part of the plan (or rather, a relatively silent commercial response according to Sheeran’s standards: the subtract still went to n. 1 in 13 countries). Having passed a decade with voraciously pursuing great success – and moving 200 million albums in the trial – perhaps Sheeran had decided that the moment was just to retire deliberately, to do exactly what he wanted regardless of the sales characters.
At first glance, Azizam looks like another support for that theory. A “intercultural collaboration”, an experiment of Persian music inspired by the Iranian heritage of the Manufacturer of Stockholm, Laya Salminanzadeh (co -author of successes including Eleholy by Sam Smith, Love me by Ellie Goulding like you and the break by Ariana Grande with your girlfriend, have matured) is invoiced. The title is to do it for “My Dear One”, and its cast list involves a series of musicians who play Middle Eastern instruments – Ghatam, Daf, Santur – as well as Sasy, a rapper and Iranian singer currently residing in the United States and the citizens of the World Choir, which is composed of refugees.
But once you have heard the final result, he practically has the same relationship with the Persian music as Galway Girl who made Sean-Nós sing. There is a remarkable lope at the rhythm that could have its roots in Tehran, but it could as easily be an echo of the glitter without death that was born from the glam of the early 70s. There is a cast of the Middle East on a counterintelligence that appears during the choir, but the rest is positively Anglo -Saxon: the percussive acoustic guitar in the foreground, a large chorus and an abundant voice with texts on the dance with his wife.
Azizam does her job with the type of ruthless efficiency that you might expect from Sheeran in brazen pop mode. It has a hook that completely digs in your brain the first time you listen to it and proves to be impossible to remove later: if you consider that delicious or unbearable will depend entirely on your previously consolidated opinion of Sheeran and its work.
Even if he restores him in the kingdom of billions of wires he is open to the discussion. Pop is widely believed that it entered a new era, more brazen, risky and characteristic of the one that led to Sheeran to success primarily, announced by the rise of Chappell Roan and by the success of Charli XCX’s marble. But less widely reported is the fact that, new era or not, Sheeran still launches a long shadow on pop: Noah Kahan, Benson Boone and the man currently in the United Kingdom n. 1, Alex Warren, have a remarkable slice of Sheeran in their musical DNA; Myles Smith, winner of the Rising Star Award at the British of this year, seems to have modeled so closely that he even adopted the acoustic guitar on a short scale of Sheeran. You wouldn’t want to exchange Azizam that you return to the table at the top.
