Ok I am considered an old codger but Galway girl is truly awful.

How did this guy get so popular?

Also utterly baffled by how he he’s come to be one of the biggest acts in the world. I can’t see how his stuff stands out at all.

Seriously? This is like the third thread in about as many weeks.

This again 😉

STW is not his target audience, so unsurprisingly lots of people on here don’t like him and will say he’s “shit”.

He isn’t, it’s just that some people don’t like his music. But loads of other people do, which is why he’s so popular.

Its a bit like the BrewDog thread, it seems to be a “thing” to be very vocal about disliking anything that’s very popular or successful.

Not my cup of tea but my daughter loves his music. HTH.

I’ve heard he writes his own, songs and plays an instrument.

That makes him OK AFAIC.

Contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. It’s so edgy to dislike things other people like, and be really vocal about it so everyone knows how well read you are, or how well refined your taste in beer is, or how your music tastes are so advanced that you can’t even understand how anything else can be popular.

E D G Y

It’s ginger guilt – for years the red headed population of this country has been given a hard time. Buying Ed’s records is a way for people to feel better about the way they’ve treated the fiery haired population in the past. 😉

Seriously, he’s a talented musician who seems to also have a savvy marketing team and has found his audience. Not to my tastes, but fair play to the fella.

His music isn’t for me but my elder son does parkour with his lookalike…

Never heard one of his songs all the way through and don’t want too but always a place in music for someone who has learned to play an instrument and writes his own stuff imo.

I’ve not listened to the new album really, but I find his previous albums a bit bland. Put just him, a guitar and a loop pedal on a stage and he’s far better.

“…it seems to be a “thing” to be very vocal about disliking anything that’s very popular or successful.“

I hated popular stuff long before it became popular to do so.

I’m now in a logic loop trying to determine how I feel about it.

I read an interview with him recently. He comes across as a really decent bloke, modest and self-deprecating, who’s more baffled than anyone else about the level of success he’s presently enjoying

The ginger thief relieved me of 75 sheets so that my daughter could go and see him in a couple of weeks! I dint mind that castle on the hill track but everything else I’ve heard is shite.

I like his stuff and he seems like a nice guy (bought one of his team a new 911 because he’d always wanted one) – I can completely see why he’s popular. Good for him.

Stupid way the charts are compiled basically. Every play on a steaming service like Spotify counts as a “sale” of that single. Multiply that with lots of young fans with time on their hands listening to the album on repeat and you get the ridiculous situation where all 16 songs on the album are in the Top 20 chart!

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/mar/10/ed-sheeran-has-16-songs-in-the-top-20-and-its-a-sign-of-how-sick-the-charts-are

I don’t particularly mind his music but it’s not that good!

Ha ha I am far from EDGY 😆 just amazed a song like Galway girl is so popular.

The boy has certainly got a lot of tallent. He is a bit like ColdPlay, quite a few poor songs but then some totally amazing songs. Proper still playing them in 20 years types. Well thats my view anyway.

He also seems like a really decent chap with a bloody good work ethic so pleased he has done so well, compared to all the manufactured lot.

Stupid way the charts are compiled basically. Every play on a steaming service like Spotify counts as a “sale” of that single.

Because no one actually buys a single anymore,so without counting streaming they’d have nothing to base the charts on – which, according to my 3 teenage girls, are utterly meaningless as no one cares anyway.
Music industry trying to big themselves up.

It does make sense to include streaming, but for some reason Youtube / Vevo plays don’t get counted, nor radio airplay.

In utterly unrelated news, if anyone is looking for the Chairman of the UK’s Official Chart Company, he can usually be found in the Spotify offices, doing his day job as head of Spotify’s International Label Relations.

which, according to my 3 teenage girls, are utterly meaningless as no one cares anyway.

They might think that but some folk clearly do still care because Ed Sheeran is now all over the news, radio, papers, talk shows etc due to his “amazing chart success”

Can’t say I have much of an opinion on Ed Sheran. He’s ok and a talented bloke. Not really my cup of tea though.

Brew Dog on the other hand is shite. There’s nothing clever about pretending shite beer is good just to fit in. There’s plenty of properly good beers of every kind so no need to settle for sub standard pish.

I don’t think he’s too bad and the Mrs loves him. My argument would be, what is his competition?

A load of artificially produced groups, the spawn of a talent show or rappers.

He has some genuine talent with instruments, can write some good lyrics and string the two together. I wouldn’t mind being a quid behind him either.

It also seems popular to vent hatred on here towards Pink Floyd, who happen to be in the top 10 selling bands of all time. (7th according to Wiki) Maybe everyone who bought their recordings are wrong too?

Ed Sheeran is now all over the news, radio, papers, talk shows etc due to his “amazing chart success”

like I said

Music industry trying to big themselves up.

Kids don’t give a hoot about the charts.

Kids don’t give a hoot about the charts.

Yer I know but it’s still the answer to the OP’s question:

“How did this guy get so popular?”

Chart ‘success’ so the industry and media do what they have always done: make him a huge star and put him on everything.

An interesting question would be to ask your girls why they think he is so popular?

If they had never heard of him and you played one of his tracks to them would they really say “That’s amazing. That man should appear everywhere and be played endlessly on the radio”?

IMHO he’s a bloody genius when he gets on the loop pedal – bloody clever and as someone said above, seems like a nice normal chap.

Luckily for me I’m not too cool for school 8)

How? The same targeted advertising that saw Trump and Brexit happen. Truly more evil than we could have imagined.

Im not a fan at all but then never heard much of him whereas Paulo Nutini i like his albums, son 30 years younger thinks my music taste is shite everyone to their own. The other thread about first track first album had me boakin grew up with boston hated black sabbath and tpau reminds me of an ex too much such a crappy 80’record

Bloody good luck to him, who cares why or how? With all the constant negative news how can a quiet unassuming fella twiddling his way to mega success without harming anyone do anything other than raise a smile.

I like a lot of his stuff, and as said before, he writes, sings and plays his own stuff, with considerable talent. And, live with a loop pedal he is amazing! Really clever

Stupid way the charts are compiled basically. Every play on a steaming service like Spotify counts as a “sale” of that single.

No it doesn’t.

Every 150 streams of a song count represent one single sale for chart purposes.

Multiply that with lots of young fans with time on their hands listening to the album on repeat and you get the ridiculous situation where all 16 songs on the album are in the Top 20 chart!

Yes. It’s a measure of popularity, as it always has been.

He sells more units, and gets streamed more than everyone else. By a mile.

You’ll have to explain why that’s “rediculous” ?
I don’t see why his massive popularity should count against him ??

Pharrel, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars to name just three.

all infinitely better than any of the guff Sheeran churns out.

“oh but he plays instruments and writes his own songs”

By that argument Frank Sinatra was a no mark…

I was kind of oblivious to the actual music, I think I’d only heard a couple of the big hits which naturally are the most boring and mass market. But then just recently I started seeing more of the interesting stuff he does and it’s bloody good tbh. (I like the looping thing especially, and there’s something excellently baffling about a ginger rapper). He’s obviously a good feller, too. Put it this way, would you rather The Kids were listening to him, or some autotuned bilge?

Also, I had a bad moment a while back when I heard a Justin Bieber song and liked it. Thank god, it turned out Sheeran wrote it, it’s not a Bieber song at all!

music being subjective – years ago my Dad thought the music I listened to was rubbish, these days I think the music my kids listen to is the pits… to each is own.

Eclectic is the word that comes to mind…

When I hear Ed Sheeran I think people mean Ed O’Neil who played Al Bundy in Married…With Children #thanksforsharing

Im not a fan at all but then never heard much of him whereas Paulo Nutini i like his albums

I’m the opposite – I’ve heard Divide on constant loop for the last few weeks (I have a 14 year old daughter!), and can still listen to it without wanting to throw the computer out of the window.

Paulo Nutini on the other hand has a similar effect on me as dragging finger nails down a blackboard!

Also, I had a bad moment a while back when I heard a Justin Bieber song and liked it.

😯

Nooooooooooo!

Apparently his record company weren’t keen on Galway Girl either, but then Ed pointed out that his lot were a massive success pumping stuff like that out all the time.

not a fan

liked his collaboration with PJDN

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weNlxo09Tjw[/video]