If you knew nothing about Ed Sheeran before you stepped into his concert venue, you might be surprised to see that there are no instruments on the stage. The only things in the spotlight are two mics, and a looper station. Suddenly, the lights will dim and a short, red-haired, Brit with a guitar in his hand will step on stage. Ed will then proceed to make sure you are excited and ready for his show. After making sure his audience is ready for one of the best nights of their lives, he will start playing a baseline on his guitar. He can then be seen stopping on what looks like a little red box on the ground. This little red box is the secret to Ed's live shows. The box is formally known in the music world as a loop station. You play a certain number of bars, hit the pedal, and then it plays what you just played on a continuous loop, hence the name Loop Station. From there, Ed will start to hit his guitar's body for a kick drum-like sound. He presses the pedal, and it is looping with his baseline. He then again adds layer after layer. Once the instrumentation is done, he starts to sing a harmony into one of the two mics. Now, he is finally ready to start singing and playing the emotional, well-worded, songs that are some of my favorite music in the world.
All of his songs have a meaning. There is not one single song that he wrote to this day that I can say has no meaning. Although this seems trivial, if you take a look at all of the music on the radio and in our society today, you would really be shocked to find one song playing that wasn't 1) talking about drugs or alcohol 2) exploiting women and sex, or 3) repeating the same five insignificant words over and over again until the song ended.
Ed Sheeran found a way to break the mold and create a whole new genre that I believe goes back to what music was supposed to be like. When music started, it was never about money, it was about expressing yourself or just having a good time. I am not ashamed in the slightest bit to be a Sheerio because I truly believe that Ed Sheeran is slowly but surely putting humanity back into today’s music industry.
