walking upstream…
Ed Sheeran
photo: harald krichel · cc by-sa 3.0 ↗Ed Sheeran
sourcesWikipedia · Rolling Stone · American Songwriter
Ed Sheeran built a global pop career from a distinctly folk-club start: a redheaded English busker armed with a loop pedal, turning solo acoustic sets into arena-filling, chart-topping records. His songwriting fuses conversational, diaristic lyrics with an omnivorous ear — Irish folk-soul phrasing, rap cadence, and classic piano-pop balladry all show up inside the same verse-chorus structure. By the mid-2010s he was one of the best-selling and most streamed musicians alive, largely on songs he still writes almost entirely himself.
the sound in question
2017
Shape of YouEd Sheeran
walk the tributaries ↓
Van Morrison1970s · Celtic soul / Folk-jazz / R&B
Sheeran has called Van Morrison's Irish Heartbeat the album that first showed him what songwriting could do, and the loose, conversational phrasing and soul-inflected vocal runs on his own ballads trace back to Morrison's way of stretching a lyric until it breaks into feeling.
listen: upstream & here
1970
Into the MysticVan Morrison
2014
Thinking Out LoudEd Sheeran
listen forCue up Morrison's 'Into the Mystic' and then Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' — the same unhurried, half-spoken-half-sung delivery, and the way both songs let a simple chord vamp breathe under the voice instead of rushing the hook.
Eminem2000s · Hip-hop / Rap
Sheeran has said that rapping along to Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP as a kid helped him work through a childhood stutter, and the dense, syllable-packed verses he writes into his own pop songs carry that rap cadence and internal-rhyme discipline.
listen: upstream & here
2000
StanEminem
2011
You Need Me, I Don't Need YouEd Sheeran
listen forListen to Eminem rattle through 'Stan' and then Sheeran's early single 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' — both pile multisyllabic rhymes into tight rhythmic pockets at a clip most pop singers wouldn't attempt.
Elton John1970s · Pop / Rock / Piano rock
John became a mentor as much as an influence — he calls Sheeran regularly and has helped guide his career — and Sheeran's fondness for full-voiced, piano-led balladry that leans on one instrument and a big, hooky vocal melody echoes Elton's early singer-pianist records.
listen: upstream & here
1970
Your SongElton John
2017
PerfectEd Sheeran
listen forPut on 'Your Song' next to 'Perfect' — both are simple, direct love songs that lean on a warm, unhurried piano-and-vocal arrangement rather than production tricks to land the emotion.