Five days, five new Ed Sheeran songs. After a week that saw the release of "Afire Love," "Bloodstream," "Thinking Out Loud" and "The Man" from Sheeran's new album x, he dropped yet another new single this morning (June 20) and Sheeran is getting lovey-dover once again with his "Photograph."
After offering up the track during several live performances, the studio version of "Photograph" offers few surprises to fans, at least musically. The acoustic core of the song is omnipresent, from the sweet guitar licks at the beginning of the song to the fuller orchestral swells underneath the later choruses.
Simply put: "Photograph" is one of Sheeran's more simplistically beautiful songs. Yes, "Afire Love" and "Thinking Out Loud" touched on the love song angle and definitely pulled at your heartstrings, but there's a specific blend of love song elements Sheeran used for "Photograph" that makes it the perfect swoon-fest.
Maybe it's him telling he'll never let you go, maybe it's his tender falsetto, maybe it's the lovelorn lyrics, but there's something about "Photograph" that just melts your heart... and it's probably a combination of all these things and more.
In the grander scheme of x, "Photograph" doesn't quite seem to line up lyrically. With an exception or two, the songs from x have largely explored the feelings of a lover scorned, cheating exes and a little bit of the excess life. "Photograph" finds Sheeran returning to his singer-songwriter, lover form and he does so quite successfully.
Listen to Ed Sheeran's new song "Photograph" below:
"Photograph" is a new Ed Sheeran song, released in anticipation is his second studio album x. The follow-up to his 2012 effort + is due to hit stores worldwide on June 23.
