Ed Sheeran: Divide And Conquer
But both of them are balanced on a razor blade."
Ed Sheeran's newest album Divide is primarily a collection of love songs, though many of them swing between thematic extremes. Several of the songs are (on the surface) about physical intimacy and lustful obsessions, yet others proselytize romance and emotional connectivity. Still, others preach love of a different sort: nostalgia for the years gone by and hope for the world. While it might seem as though there is no connective tissue between these themes and Ed's idealism/cynicism appears to fluctuate wildly between songs, there is actually a grander theme that this all serves: Ed wants to sing about how individuals' differences can tear them apart... but makes them stronger in the end. I will be analyzing just how Ed manages to create idealism and optimism out of seemingly terrible situations.
The first song, Eraser, begins the album on what sounds like a dour note. The song is all about the singer (read: Ed, because it's not always clear in this album if it's always Ed who's supposed to be the main character) and the frustration that his fame has brought him. Channeling Kanye, Ed spins a yarn about the push-pull brought about by the success of his music.
"I forget when I get awards now, the wave I had to ride,
The paving stones I played upon, that kept me on the grind,
So blame it on the pain that blessed me with the life,
Friends and family filled with envy when they should be filled with pride."
Ed is upset about the way that he's been treated by his family and friends. They're not just leeching off of him, but envious of what his talent has given him. "So blame it on the pain that blessed me with the life" communicates that Ed recognizes that this is not a phenomenon unique to him; this is something that happens to all successful artists - the very real threat of losing who you are. Yet, Ed doesn't lose hope; he channels it into his art:
"I'm well aware of certain things that can destroy a man like me
But with that said give me one more
Another one to take the sting away.
I am happy on my own, so here I'll stay.
Save your lovin' arms for a rainy day
And I'll find comfort in my pain eraser."
The divisions created by his success (and profits) are ultimately turned into fuel for his art. Indeed, it also acts as a deterrent for the pain, i.e. a "pain eraser." Ed rises above the frustration he feels, creating works of art using the energy created from the pain. The last song on the album, Save Myself echoes this sentiment:
"Life can get you down so I just numb the way it feels
I drown it with a drink and out-of-date prescription pills
And all the ones that love me they just left me on the shelf
No farewell
So before I save someone else, I've got to save myself."
Instead of allowing others to use him for their benefit without any recompense (emotionally or otherwise) for Ed, he's going to save himself first. He's not going to say goodbye or give them that satisfaction; instead, he's going to watch out for his own interests, using his art for his benefit.
Castle on the Hill portrays divisions not as rifts between people, but as a rift between the past and the present. With a nostalgic tune, Ed tells the story of how he's lost the past - missing the days when he and his friends could "[watch] the sunset over the castle on the hill." He and his friends have moved on from the little countryside town they grew up in, and not all of them have been as successful as Ed. Indeed, some of them have quite gruesome fates. The days when they could just hang out and waste time and "[drive] at 90 down those old country lanes" are long gone. However, what could easily be a depressing message of loss turns into a hopeful one:
"One friend left to sell clothes
One works down by the coast
One had two kids but lives alone
One's brother overdosed
One's already on his second wife
One's just barely getting by
But these people raised me
And I can't wait to go home."
Despite how awful life can be, home is still there even after so long. It may not be the same, it might be missing some pieces, but home still remains. The divisions aren't nearly strong enough to break the ties that Ed feels towards the memories of his past - and those that remain ("these people raised me") are still there. And even after all the change, Ed still "can't wait to go home." This same message of romantic nostalgia is echoed in How Would You Feel (Paean) in regards to Ed's girlfriend.
Dive talks about Ed's insecurities regarding how a lover perceives him, the divisions created between his actions - which he begins to doubt the propriety of - and the way they reverberate into his romantic life. Realizing that he's not the lynchpin of every fault in the relationship causes him to reject the false pretenses created by his lover, which makes this song an effective prelude to Shape of You which is no longer about emotional hangups as it is about physical ones:
"I'm in love with the shape of you.
We push and pull like a magnet do.
Although my heart is falling too,
I'm in love with your body."
It might seem more like a lustful collection of anecdotes than about anything in particular, but it's clear that Ed is struggling with a disconnect between the two sides of his brain. The division here is one of morality: struggling to see this person as someone worth his love beyond the purely physical. It's an interesting thing to talk about in a love song like this, too, because it's not simply about praising and loving the carnal; it's also about learning to love someone for who they are instead of who they appear to be. Ultimately, the message of the song is one of emotional romanticism. Bibia Be Ye Ye says the same, noting that flitting fancies are nowhere near as important as loving someone for real.
There are lighter divisions that are conquered, as well. Galway Girl implicitly evokes the English-Irish divide with the lyrics: "She played the fiddle in an Irish band, but she fell in love with an Englishman" which manages to encapsulate the "love conquers all boundaries" aesop of the song quite nicely. Similarly, Happier and New Man work as dual songs about the divisons created from sour relationships, but ultimately assure that greater happiness can be achieved outside of those relationships (or that, if the new relationship fails, then one can always find comfort in the arms of the old). Meanwhile, Perfect, Hearts Don't Break Around Here, and Barcelona tell the true-to-life tales of Ed's undying love for his girlfriend, in spite of the implicit divisions created by his music's success.
Supermarket Flowers and Nancy Mulligan are about divisions created by time once more, but also evoke the division between life and death. Written as obituaries to his grandparents (in particular Ed's grandmother, who passed away during the album's production), Ed talks about the sadness that his mother must overcome in Supermarket Flowers during the grieving process of losing her own mother - but hopes for a better tomorrow. Meanwhile, Nancy Mulligan is about the divisions made by family, but is ultimately about the importance of fighting for love:
"She and I went on the run.
Don't care about religion,
I'm gonna marry the woman I love
Down by the Wexford border.
She was Nancy Mulligan
And I was William Sheeran.
She took my name and then we were one
Down by the Wexford border."
Of course, Ed sums up everything with the admittedly cheesy What Do I Know? where he sings this:
"No university, no degree, but lord knows
Everybody's talking 'bout exponential growth
And the stock market crashing and their portfolios
While I'll be sitting here with a song that I wrote."
Ed's just a boy with a guitar that wants people to be able to come together in spite of their divisions and the vapidness created by the larger culture.
Ed Sheeran's album is full of contradictions, but their disparate themes serve the title of the album quite nicely. The divisions that we have are not things that should defeat or define us; instead, we forge our own path and overcome or even take advantage of those divisions. In the end, we are more than the quotient, more than our separations.
It might seem more like a lustful collection of anecdotes than about anything in particular, but it's clear that Ed is struggling with a disconnect between the two sides of his brain. The division here is one of morality: struggling to see this person as someone worth his love beyond the purely physical. It's an interesting thing to talk about in a love song like this, too, because it's not simply about praising and loving the carnal; it's also about learning to love someone for who they are instead of who they appear to be. Ultimately, the message of the song is one of emotional romanticism. Bibia Be Ye Ye says the same, noting that flitting fancies are nowhere near as important as loving someone for real.
There are lighter divisions that are conquered, as well. Galway Girl implicitly evokes the English-Irish divide with the lyrics: "She played the fiddle in an Irish band, but she fell in love with an Englishman" which manages to encapsulate the "love conquers all boundaries" aesop of the song quite nicely. Similarly, Happier and New Man work as dual songs about the divisons created from sour relationships, but ultimately assure that greater happiness can be achieved outside of those relationships (or that, if the new relationship fails, then one can always find comfort in the arms of the old). Meanwhile, Perfect, Hearts Don't Break Around Here, and Barcelona tell the true-to-life tales of Ed's undying love for his girlfriend, in spite of the implicit divisions created by his music's success.
"She and I went on the run.
Don't care about religion,
I'm gonna marry the woman I love
Down by the Wexford border.
She was Nancy Mulligan
And I was William Sheeran.
She took my name and then we were one
Down by the Wexford border."
Of course, Ed sums up everything with the admittedly cheesy What Do I Know? where he sings this:
"No university, no degree, but lord knows
Everybody's talking 'bout exponential growth
And the stock market crashing and their portfolios
While I'll be sitting here with a song that I wrote."
Ed's just a boy with a guitar that wants people to be able to come together in spite of their divisions and the vapidness created by the larger culture.
Ed Sheeran's album is full of contradictions, but their disparate themes serve the title of the album quite nicely. The divisions that we have are not things that should defeat or define us; instead, we forge our own path and overcome or even take advantage of those divisions. In the end, we are more than the quotient, more than our separations.
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