TOW #22 - Review: Ed Sheeran’s Secret Weapon on ‘Divide’? Being Unabashedly Uncool

In Jon Caramanica’s review titled, Ed Sheeran’s Secret Weapon on ‘Divide’? Being Unabashedly Uncool, he reveals his opinion of Ed Sheeran.  That very opinion is how great Ed Sheeran is by revealing the many different genres and topics he uses in his new album while still maintaining his popularity in music. This article was published a few days after Ed Sheeran’s Grammy Awards performance, which indeed was phenomenal.  Throughout the article, Caramanica utilizes diction relating to music, and similes that are very exaggerated in order to show his positive review of Ed’s new album and just Ed Sheeran as an artist.

In the beginning of the article, Caramanica says,  “This is an album which, including bonus tracks, features rapping and singing; club music and orchestras; a tin whistle and a bodhran, hallmarks of Irish folk; and a song partly in the Ghanaian dialect Twi.” Through the use of the specific words pertaining to music, he is able to establish ethos in his argument.  This then allows for his argument to be justified.  In essence, it then proves how Ed Sheeran does indeed include various genres of music in his new album. Caramanica is also able to incorporate similes in his argument.  When talking about the topics Ed Sheeran cover son his album, he says, “For someone so skilled at pop simulation, Mr. Sheeran rigorously maintains his position of outsiderdom, especially in his lyrics: He paints himself as a pinball bounced around by larger societal forces, and by women who casually slap him with a flipper.” By using the idea and exaggeration of a pinball, Caramanica is able to prove just how different Ed Sheeran is but the varying topics in his lyrics.

In my opinion, I believe that Caramanica successfully proves his argument and review of Ed Sheeran’s new album and just him as an artist.  I agree with all of Caramanica’s point in the sense that it is absolutely mind blowing how someone like Ed Sheeran can incorporate so many different ideas into an album while still maintaining his popularity.  It is actually quite interesting because at least we have pop artists that are bringing some different ideas to the table.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/arts/music/ed-sheeran-divide-review.html