The 9 Biggest Surprises From Ed Sheeran's Collab-Powered Album
The conceit for
Ed Sheeran's new album is simple: every song is a posse cut.
No.6 Collaborations Project — which arrived on Friday (July 12) and marks the decidedly more star-studded follow-up to 2011's
No.5 — includes a lot of very known people and also a couple of up-and-comers, cramming 22 total visitors into 15 tracks. It's a total flex: a demonstration of who Sheeran can coax into the studio. Nevertheless more than that, it's a nifty showcase for the broadening creative reach of an one-time folk singer who's right now determined to dabble in R&B, dance-pop, rap, and even hair metal.
Sheeran wrote on Apple Music that he "really stepped out of [his] comfort zone" on
No.6, surprising himself and all of us. Below, we recap the nine biggest eye-openers from Ed and his friends.
There are not one, nevertheless two bilingual collabs
Given the surging popularity and trendiness of Latin pop in the U.S., Maybe this shouldn't be that big of a surprise; soon considering that, it's smart moves like this that have made Sheeran a world superstar. Nevertheless it's still wild that he was the one to bring
Camila Cabello and
Cardi B with each other — they are an organic fit on "South of the Border," a bilingual ode to sweaty summer nights. And later down the tracklist, Sheeran recruits Paulo Londra, a young Latin trap phenom from Argentina, for "Nothing on You."
Leave it to Sheeran — who lent his voice to Em's "River" in 2017 — to get 50 Cent and the Detroit MC to reunite on wax for the initial time in seven years. Here, they recount their rags-to-riches stories — or "Taco Bell to TRL," in Eminem's case — against a jaunty, Real Slim Shady-esque musical backing. There's just something jolting about hearing Em rap about sticking nails in his eyelids next to Sheeran shouting out his hometown of Ipswich.
Right after
Meek Mill and
honorary Dreamchaser Ed swap turns lamenting their grueling lives on the road for "1000 Nights," A Boogie comes through with perhaps this album's most unthinkable lyric: "Me and Meek and Ed Sheeran just like the Beatles." *Insert head-scratching emoji*
There's just one established romantic ballad
Sheeran has long been the go-to guy for starry-eyed, wedding-friendly songs that lay the passion on thick — see: "Thinking Out Loud," brilliant and at least a dozen others. On
No.6, though, he leaned into genre experimentation and kept the balladry light, distributing only the YEBBA-featuring "
Best segment of Me."
"Take Me Back to London" is a flex for the ages
Sheeran and
Stormzy go back a ways, having previously collaborated on a remix of Ed's behemoth hit "Shape of You." Here, he and the London grime rapper make a shockingly stellar team, with Stormzy arguably outshining every American MC on this project. The most startling moment of this track, though, might be as soon as Sheeran brags about his riches in detail, boasting about "grossing half a billi on the
Divide Tour." Go off, Ed!
He and
Ella Mai shoulder the weight on "Put It All on Me"
So much of this album is about Sheeran's complex relationships with fame, with ladies, and with anxiety. On "Put It All on Me," though, he finally finds comfort while reassuring his partner that "I'm here for any time as soon as you need." Bonus: It sounds brighter and more upbeat than almost everything on Mai's debut album, and it's nice to hear them both take a much-needed exhale.
The
Skrillex collab is actually pretty chill
In the final 30 seconds of "Way to Break My Heart" — which marks Sheeran and longtime friend Skrillex's first genuine teamwork — the producer pulls out some tricks to warp and distort Ed's vocals. Mostly, though, this is a surprisingly steady and frills-free number about a girl who broke poor Ed's heart.
The entirety of "Blow"
You're lying in case you genuinely thought Sheeran,
Bruno Mars, and Chris Stapleton could make a rock song with each other in the year 2019 (or any other year, for that matter). This snarling hard rock cut is an experiment for all three artists involved; it's a fashion that none of these are familiar with, although that all of these can nickname. They totally upend expectations here, right down to that
raucous, gender-flipped video. It's a surprising finale to one heck of a musical experiment.
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