While I do pay attention to pop culture, I still manage to be late to the party much of the time. Lately I’ve become aware of Ed Sheeran. The name meant nothing to me over a year ago when his “I See Fire” was used in the credits for “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug“. Then all of a sudden his name was everywhere this year and I finally checked out a couple of videos on YouTube. One was “Thinking Out Loud“, which is a rather intimate, endearing love ballad, with an interesting video depicting a couple taking advantage of what appears to be an abandoned hotel ballroom for a private dance together.
Then I happened to notice the “making of the video” video and checked it out. It turns out Ed Sheeran wanted to dance the male part himself in the video, so he worked his butt off to make it happen. And while his partner is fantastic and does the bulk of the work, he holds his own quite well, I think. Both of them act pretty well, and the choreography is charming. I was impressed.
Not long ago, in listening to a Peter Hollens cover of the old folksong, “The Parting Glass” I discovered that Ed Sheeran had supposedly cut his own version of the same song. This suggested that he might not be your typical pop star with no sense of history. And just the other day I listened to his song “Small Bump“, which turned out to be a love song to his unborn child, with an emotional ending that I won’t give away. He is not at all what I would expect from someone considered “hot” in music circles today.
Today YouTube presented me with a video of him recording the old folk song “Wayfaring Stranger” in one take using a looper. Interesting. Perhaps not my most favorite rendition, but not bad. I shall have to keep an eye on this young man.
UPDATE: Okay, I ran across this video. Someone’s got a really quirky sense of humor. Rupert Grint for the win!