Ed Sheeran expected to earn NINE new top 10 songs this week (UK)

[Morphine Prince 107,066]

Haters can remain pressed.

I love the album and I think he deserves it. Even though his ego is out of control.

[RAMROD 111,034]

2 minutes ago, Muscletank said:

Um Robbie Williams says hello.....Vanilla ICe...MC Hammer....

 

No. Vanilla Ice is one hit wonder. Nobody ever take them seriously ever. MC Hammer got his own issue. Robbie Williams moved on and his music not the same anymore.

From Elvis, to MJ, to Bieber, neither one of them have ever been disliked for overexposure, if they are painted as villain, it was always highlighted on their bad side, partying, drugs, and all that but they can spew albums regularly and it sells

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Forget race and genre, something that bothers me is that so many men can get away with making very cookie-cutter acoustic or rock-inspired pop music album after album and pretty much always be applauded for it and it will insta get played on the radio er whatever, meanwhile the pop girls always have to top their last efforts or be considered massive flops that never evolve, then when they try new things they get torn to shreds. And we spend countless hours debating on whether they really "evolved" as artists or what not. We call Beyonce and Taylor Swift overrated even though they've been deadset on evolving their sound and their reach from album to album, era to era, but we don't criticize the Ed Sheerans and Justin Bieber's of the world for their actual musical output, just for their personal scandals and statements. Whats up with that  

~~~

OT: 

This album so far (Not through it yet completely) sounds very much like X sonically and definitely thematically (Love, Heartbreak, My Artistry/Connection to Music), sans some random cultural snippets, but does anyone care that its the same thing again?    Personally, I love the cultural snippets on the album (Galway Girl, Bibia Be Ye Ye, Barcelona-but without the Spanish, Nancy Mulligan*, etc ) because they are a break from the monotonous production, but it feels very random, which is fine I guess since its not a concept album or anything. This is like a compilation of some songs basically in my mind. 

He actually has a very beautiful voice (sometimes ) but I just feel like his message is just so... basic and in many senses shallow?  I realize that I'm honestly kind of a jaded person, but I just find white guys singing about love with guitars so far from profound or interesting or challenging that I find it so easy to tune it all out  

This is why most male artists I listen to are typically hip-hop, rap or R&B  There's a lot of trash, but there's also a lot of artistic integrity and an honest want to evolve and grow and share honest experiences  

[Morphine Prince 107,066]

Why are y'all mad about streaming? If people stream them they are in DEMAND and they deserve to go up in the charts.

I don't see the issue? 

If this happened to Gaga you would all be over the moon. 

[Morphine Prince 107,066]

3 minutes ago, ItsTommyBitch said:

Forget race and genre, something that bothers me is that so many men can get away with making very cookie-cutter acoustic or rock-inspired pop music album after album and pretty much always be applauded for it and it will insta get played on the radio er whatever, meanwhile the pop girls always have to top their last efforts or be considered massive flops that never evolve, then when they try new things they get torn to shreds. And we spend countless hours debating on whether they really "evolved" as artists or what not. We call Beyonce and Taylor Swift overrated even though they've been deadset on evolving their sound and their reach from album to album, era to era, but we don't criticize the Ed Sheerans and Justin Bieber's of the world for their actual musical output, just for their personal scandals and statements. Whats up with that  

~~~

OT: 

This album so far (Not through it yet completely) sounds very much like X sonically and definitely thematically (Love, Heartbreak, My Artistry/Connection to Music), sans some random cultural snippets, but does anyone care that its the same thing again?    Personally, I love the cultural snippets on the album (Galway Girl, Bibia Be Ye Ye, Barcelona-but without the Spanish, Nancy Mulligan*, etc ) because they are a break from the monotonous production, but it feels very random, which is fine I guess since its not a concept album or anything. This is like a compilation of some songs basically in my mind. 

He actually has a very beautiful voice (sometimes ) but I just feel like his message is just so... basic and in many senses shallow?  I realize that I'm honestly kind of a jaded person, but I just find white guys singing about love with guitars so far from profound or interesting or challenging that I find it so easy to tune it all out  

This is why most male artists I listen to are typically hip-hop, rap or R&B  There's a lot of trash, but there's also a lot of artistic integrity and an honest want to evolve and grow and share honest experiences  

Some songs aren't from his perspective. Supermarket Flowers is from his mother's perspective when her mother (his grandma) died. Nancy Mulligan is from his grandfather's (William Sheeran) perspective.

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

8 minutes ago, Morphine Prince said:

Some songs aren't from his perspective. Supermarket Flowers is from his mother's perspective when her mother (his grandma) died. Nancy Mulligan is from his grandfather's (William Sheeran) perspective.

I actually haven't heard the whole album yet in order, then given it a listen looking at the lyrics  I have heard only previews of those two.

[KURUSHITOVSKA 20,451]

What's the hype with this boy seriously? He's the most basic thing ever

[Muscletank 410]

20 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

 

No. Vanilla Ice is one hit wonder. Nobody ever take them seriously ever. MC Hammer got his own issue. Robbie Williams moved on and his music not the same anymore.

From Elvis, to MJ, to Bieber, neither one of them have ever been disliked for overexposure, if they are painted as villain, it was always highlighted on their bad side, partying, drugs, and all that but they can spew albums regularly and it sells

They all suffered extreme media over exposure and got bad press.

[Erich Johnson 2,920]

GP:

[Erich Johnson 2,920]

Music

[teenagechrist 2,853]

7 hours ago, Sizzily said:

Yes, god forbid someone wants to listen to music they like for free.

What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't make sense that Spotify streams make such a huge impact on your chart position. I'm not against people using it, I'm the first person that has been using it for years (before it became super popular), but I feel that the way artists with strong sales are being blocked by others without not even a half of the sales they have (which is not the case with Ed, I'm just talking in general) it's just wrong.

[just another gay 836]

Good for him. 

[honza 2,194]

Love the whole album sooo much (Shape Of You is SUCH a bop), can't get enough of listening to his voice. I don't really care if he's egoistic - I like his music, I'll listen to it, just like many people here do with Azealia  

[GagaMyBlood95 9,915]

9 songs inside TOP 10 all at once?

 

[dit 46,531]

17 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

As far as the music industry goes, that's almost a complete myth. People say oppressed groups encounter difficulties in the industry because that's what they're told to believe, they don't research the actual reality. I know I've certainly been experiencing a different reality all my life, I've never even had to do the research. Right now, more than ever, black artists are being celebrated to an extent that I've never seen. I review albums for fun and try to listen to as many as I can a year and I can tell you right now, the amount of mediocrity coming from black artists is astonishing and yet, critics praise it to high heaven. In comparison, I've heard amazing albums from white artists that get mixed reception and the critics just selectively play dumb and act like they don't know what the artist is trying to say with this record. They're also a lot more accepting of experimental music from black artists, they praise them for trying something contemporary. But when a white artist does it, they call their efforts pretentious, even suggest that they're getting ideas above their station. I also notice that black artists are allowed a lot of freedom to make the music that they want, as befits the amount of experimental material we've been seeing lately that I just brought up. In comparison, I see white artists continually being forced to be generic by their labels and struggling to get albums out unless they have a big hit preceding it (you're clearly an Ariana fan, you must know about the Focus situation). Unless you're a massively controversial person like Azealia Banks, you probably won't have much trouble getting a record deal if you're black. Now, more than ever, record labels know there's a buck to made from black urban music and they're happy to roll with the trends. Good music from black artists on a wide scale died out for me in the 90's. Nowadays, finding a genuinely good album from them is really hard. They're all trying to be avant garde and have irritating vocals which I am not a fan of. The fire and drive has gone out of black music for the most part yet, its never been more celebrated in years.

Mediocrity in general is celebrated. If you're making basic lyrics with basic beats, regardless of your genre, it's guaranteed acceptance. And the UK is the only country in the world that would have Ed and Chainsmokers in the top 10? That's a bit snobby of you. That's going to change in the US when the official video for the Chainsmoker's new single is released, I'm sure.

 

16 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

Well, you weren't being specific enough, then.

It's not "simple," per se, but nowhere near as tough as people make it out to be. There's new young black talent coming up every year. That wouldn't be the case if they had a much harder time than white artists. And well, judging from the level of talent that's coming through, I'm starting to believe labels will choose anyone that's the right kind of mediocre to appeal to the public. And well, of course not all of them try to be avant garde, but you know what I mean. Even the ones that used to be more down to earth have jumped on the avant garde train now. Singing about stuff in such a pretentious way, I don't know what they're on about anymore. Singing all juddery and putting laughing sound effects in their songs, putting on accents that aren't theirs, being obnoxious as hell. I don't know what's happened. It's a herculean effort to get through their albums now, they're just over-stuffed with countless songs about nothingness, barely decipherable in audio in some cases.

No, I'm referring to multiple people. And I'm saying you're told to believe this because this is the story that we're fed by society - that an oppressed group is oppressed in every way. I believed in all that too until I started actually looking at the reality and realising that it wasn't true in every case, music being the most obvious example. But what I've found is that when I present the truth, people just block it out. Whether it's because they're genuinely blind to it or whether it's because they know it's true but don't want to say, I'm not sure. But it's clear what we're told to believe and a lot of us don't even bother checking out the stats on the matter. And what's this about "I've seen urban influences put through white artistry more often than not"? Um, black people have been credited for those trends and are putting them out themselves. White people are not taking over by any means or erasing the true innovators from history. That's another myth we're told to believe. And well, seeing as all you're talking about is Ed and Chainsmokers, your points seem just as focused on certain individuals as mine are.

But that's just what I'm talking about - most of these mediocre black talents didn't have to try hard to get where they are at all. A lot got big from their first single. Most of them start out very young, so they clearly got a record deal early. There's blacks with absolutely no talent getting songs on the charts because of Vines, for Gods sake. I don't think a white artist has ever done that. It's absolutely appalling what is accepted as decent art in urban music these days. Not to mention, most of them don't even promote! They get hits without even promoting! Meanwhile, white artists are working their asses off promoting and aren't even awarded with a hit for their trouble. Drake is the perfect example of that - One Dance didn't even have a music video and he didn't promote it at all and yet it was #1 for week after week in the UK, almost toppling the all-time record, it has sold 1.8 million to date here. I think that tells you how much black music is accepted now, how easily its consumed and how it can get to the top no matter how bad it is. So, no, I don't get your argument about how black artists have to "work" so much harder than white artists. It's the exact opposite.

Sounds like you are bothered by "black mediocracy" slaying the charts recently but you probably wernt as bothered when white mediocracy had no problem topping charts or going top 10 for decades. Yes black artists have been succesful but the member you were debating was initially talking about all artists of color. An artist of indian, arab, chinese etc descent can only dream of having a lick of success in this racist and YES white dominated industry. Black artists have been the only people of color able to properly break down barriers only because they have a substantial, loyal market / core black fanbase that helps launch them and their music into the mainstream. It is a community effort that white artists dont necessarily need (for the most part) because they do not face similare obstacles. A black artist (wether he/she makes what you consider to be below average music) still needs to prove himself/herself in ways a white artist does not. A black (or any artist of color) needs to prove that there is  market for his/her art where as that is never put into question when you deal with a white artist because there will always be a market for white artists. This is part of what makes the white artist / artists of color experience different. For you to dare minimize people of colors experiences with racism in the music industry and in other fields (as you mentioned) as "something we are told to believe" is both harmful and just flat out wrong. Unfortunatly it seems to me that you are no different from the new wave of white young people who seem to dismiss the systematic oppression that people of color still face to this day in EVERY field. You keep mentioning reasearch...try living it. An emic perspective will always trump an etic perspective and that is a fact. End of.