x (10th Anniversary Edition)

by Ed Sheeran

Overview

It's a little glib to call Ed Sheeran the U.K.'s answer to Jason Mraz, yet there's a grain of truth in that statement. Like Mraz, Sheeran plays around with hip-hop cadences but at his core he's a singer/songwriter, and a sensitive one at that, one who prefers love tunes to songs of protest, something that is quite evident on X, his second collection of original songs. Although he sometimes pours out his heart armed with no more than an acoustic guitar, he's not a troubadour; those hip-hop roots means he'll not only ramble out a rap, but he's also quite comfortable with luxurious, shimmering textures and buoyant melodies. Naturally, these traits surface clearly on "Sing," a collaboration with Pharrell Williams that contains some of the natural ebullience of "Happy," along with the upscale whitebread rap of "The Man," but this good cheer surfaces on songs that are far removed from rhythm. When Sheeran sings slow, he rarely sings sad: he's a hybrid of Chris Martin and David Grey, a boy next door who hasn't lost his shaggy romanticism. His sweetness isn't cloying, not even when the productions are aimed straight down the middle of the road, which they often are on . His boyishness doesn't give these immaculate confections grit so much as a wet, wide-eyed puppy dog heart. Sheeran is so good at this AAA gloss that whenever the mildly manic rapping surfaces -- which X does about every three songs or so -- it's a bit of sand in the Vaseline, preventing X from operating as smoothly as it'd like. Nevertheless, these gangly excursions in rap are evidence of Sheeran's youth and his generation, something that keeps X from being merely a bit of excellently crafted mature pop and gives it some appealing character. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	06/21/2024
Label:	Atlantic
UPC:	5054197995040

Tracks

1. One
2. I'm a Mess
3. Sing
4. Don't
5. Nina
6. Photograph
7. Bloodstream
8. Tenerife Sea
9. Runaway
10. The Man
11. Thinking Out Loud
12. Afire Love
13. Take It Back
14. Shirtsleeves
15. Even My Dad Does Sometimes
16. I See Fire
17. All of the Stars
18. English Rose
19. Touch and Go
20. New York
21. Make It Rain

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ed Sheeran   Primary Artist,Primary Artist,Guitar,Violin,Vocals,Handclapping,Featured Artist,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Rudimental   Primary Artist
Leon Rolle   Keyboards,Percussion,Vocals (Background)
Coco Arquette   Vocals,Percussion
Courtney Cox   Vocals,Percussion
Geoff Leaa   Drums
Anne-Marie   Vocals (Background)
Raphaella   Vocals (Background)
Jake Gosling   Bass,Horn,Drums,Organ,Piano,Guitar,Strings,Percussion,Synthesizer,Handclapping,Fender Rhodes
Amir Amor   Guitar,Vocals (Background)
Ed Howard   Handclapping
Eamon Harkin   Vocals,Percussion
Piers Aggett   Piano,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
Kesi Dryden   Bass,Strings,Vocals (Background)
Johnny McDaid   Bass,Piano,Guitar,Bass Viol,Harmonica,Keyboards,Percussion,Organ (Hammond),Vocals (Background)
Courteney Cox   Vocals,Percussion
Tyler Johnson   Guitar (Electric)
Chris Leonard   Bass,Handclapping,Organ (Hammond),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Bass,Guitar,Soloist,Handclapping,Organ (Hammond),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Nigel Collins   Cello
Amy Wadge   Piano
Andrew Coleman   Guitar
Chris Reynolds   Drums
Anne Marie   Vocals (Background)
Lenny Castro   Percussion
James Newman   Vocals (Background)
Luis Conte   Percussion
Blake Mills   Tiple,Guitar
Pharrell Williams   Vocals (Background)
Matt Chamberlain   Drums
Jeff Bhasker   Bass,Piano,Keyboards,Bass (Electric)
Peter Gosling   Piano
Mark Crown   Trumpet
Chris Dave   Drums
Jason Lader   Bass,Keyboards,Guitar (Bass)
Eric Lynn   Keyboards
Foy Vance   Vocals (Background)
Adam MacDougall   Keyboards
Davide Rossi   Strings

Technical Credits

Max McElligott   Composer
Leon Rolle   Composer
Johnnie Burik   Producer,Assistant Producer,Production Assistant
Geoff Swan   Mixing,Engineer,Assistant,Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant
Joshua Smith   Engineer,Assistant,Recording,Digital Editing
Felix Jaehn   Remixing
Dave Hanych   Producer,Production Coordination
Matthew Gooderham   Assistant Engineer
Frank Fieber   Assistant
Seif "Mageef" Hussain   Production Coordination
Ben Cook   A&R
Eric Cardieux   Engineer,Digital Editing
William Hicks   Engineer,Vocal Editing,Vocal Engineer
Self "Mageel" Hussein   Production Coordination
Rob Sucheki   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Ricardo Kim   Producer,Assistant Producer,Production Assistant
Phillip Butch   Illustrations
Adam Englefield   Composer
Jacob Manson   Composer
Kevin Christian-Blair   A&R,A&R Assistance
Rocket Studios   Recording
Thomas Leonard   Composer
Jonny Harris   Composer
Jake Gosling   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording,Programming,Mixing Engineer,Drum Programming
Wez Clarke   Mixing,Programming,Mixdown Engineer
Amir Amor   Composer,Drum Programming
Sean Oakley   Engineer,Assistant,Recording,Digital Editing
Ed Howard   A&R
Rick Ruben   Producer
Grant Rawlinson   Assistant,Mixing Assistant
Ed Sheeran   Composer,Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Amir Izadkhah   Composer
James Wood   Composer,Composer
Chris Sclafani   Engineer
Adam Coltman   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Piers Aggett   Composer
Kesi Dryden   Composer
Gavin Slater   Composer
Benjamin Levin   Composer
Stuart Hawkes   Mastering
Johnny McDaid   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Programming
Graham Kennedy   Engineer,Engineer,Recording
Kirsty Whalley   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Lasse Petersen   Composer
Tyler Johnson   Engineer,Drum Programming
Christian Langdon   Engineer,Digital Editing
Conesha Owens   Composer
Mark Stent   Mixing
Amy Wadge   Composer
Andrew Coleman   A&R,Arranger,Engineer,Producer,Recording,Digital Editing
Rhodes   Drum Programming
Ramon Rivas   Assistant,Assistant Engineer
Matt de Jong   Design
Andrew Luftman   Production Coordination
Chris Reynolds   Drum Engineering
Emile Haynie   Composer,Producer,Drum Programming,Additional Production
Mark "Spike" Stent   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
James Newman   Composer
Pharrell Williams   Composer,Producer
Ruadhri Cushnan   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Mike Spencer   Producer,Programming
Peter Cobbin   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Rick Rubin   Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Ali Shaheed Muhammad   Composer
Raphael Saadiq   Composer
Jeff Bhasker   Producer,Additional Production
Rudimental   Composer,Producer
Jason Lader   Engineer,Recording
Gary Lightbody   Composer
Martin Harrington   Composer
Steve Gallagher   Engineer,Recording
Eric Lynn   Producer,Assistant,Recording,Production Coordination
Benny Blanco   Producer,Programming,Instrumentation
Michael Freeman   Mixing,Assistant,Mixing Engineer,Mixing Assistant
Foy Vance   Composer
Matty Green   Engineer
Ben Humphreys   Producer,Assistant Producer,Additional Production
Davide Rossi   String Arrangements
Enormous   Recording
Dawn Robinson   Composer