In 2011, a few months before his career exploded and he took the mantle as the worlds most successful busker, Ed Sheeran put out an EP calledNo.5 Collaborations Project, a series of duets with established artists from the UKs grime scene. Eight years, three multi-platinum albums (Plus,Multiply, andDivide), and hundreds of sold-out arenas later, he returns to the guest-heavy format withNo.6 Collaborations Project, an album guided by the logic of a DJ Khaled album or theSuicide SquadOST, which is to say an all-star event engineered for maximum commercial impact.
No.6 leverages an almost unprecedentedly batshit list of superstar feature artists, including Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Eminem, 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Camila Cabello, Young Thug, Skrillex, Chris Stapleton, Bruno Mars, Stormzy and others, all gathered to frame Sheeran as not merely a globetrotting acoustic troubadour, but a dynamic pop artist fluent in hip hop, R&B and dancehall. Yet, amid what could be a messily ambitious gamble, Sheeran creates a narrative through line that explores the tension between the incredible social anxiety hes developed as a result of his international fame and its only antidote the loving embrace of his wife, Cherry.
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Sheeran has always presented himself as a Jon Lajoie-styleeveryday, regular, normal guyat heart. This identity is more pronounced than ever onNo.6. He spends a significant portion of the album dwelling on his hatred of partieshe stiff-arms Lamborghini and rented Hummer culture on the opener Beautiful People, asks people not to touch him in the club on Antisocial, and professes the joy of leaving the function to go be with his girl on I Dont Care. The thesis ofNo.6is that celebrity (especially when coupled with introversion) is a terrible curse. Sheeran cant help but repeatedly name-drop the far-flung cities he goes to and brag about the obscene money hes raking in (grossed half a bill on the Divide Tour), but he makes it clear that hed much rather be home alone with Cherry. Cause I dont care when Im with my baby, All the bad things disappear.
Sheerans unobtrusively sweet voice easily slips between genres, but he struggles to connect with many of his A-list guest artists, deepening the albums isolated mood. This is partly due to a litany of mailed-in features; Meek Mill and A Boogie wit da Hoodie both sound like they need a nap on their respective verses on 1000 Nights. But Sheerans creative risks also tend to sour the albums most promising collaborations, like when he utters the words te amo mami opposite Camila Cabello on the Shape of You redux South of the Border, or when he announces that he and Stormzy are on grime on Take Me Back To London. No.6 is defined in large part by Sheerans earnest attempts to incorporate hip hop styles and signifiers into his music aScotch snaphere, a Nate Dogg pastiche there, a Migos-inspired ad-lib everywherebut its too big a stretch for him to convincingly pull off.