Ed Sheeran

When I was at university we used to have Open Mic nights at the Students Union quite regularly. I generally enjoyed them, mainly because I played at every one I went to, but the problem was that hardly anybody used to go to them.

Aside from the fact it didn't get promoted very well, another reason why people didn't go was likely to do with the fact most of the music was somebody getting up and playing the acoustic guitar and singing which got a bit boring after a while. It just wasn't the sort of night you'd think would appeal to students and I probably wouldn't have gone myself had I not been playing there.

Fast forward to today and we find one of the biggest music acts in the world at the moment is a man with an acoustic guitar. Somebody who had 16 songs in the Top 20 one week who also managed to get Christmas number one with one of those songs several months later. Chart performance aside, he also played a stadium tour in the UK recently where more than a million people went to see him play, that's more than the number of people who live in Birmingham.

We also live in a time where a lot of mainstream music is EDM music by everybody featuring everybody else so how is one man with an acoustic guitar so popular?

Prior to "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill" reaching numbers one and two in the charts last year I didn't know any Ed Sheeran songs. I had heard him play a song on the TV but to be honest it was too boring for me to remember.

When I heard "Shape of You" my first thought was that it didn't sound like a man with an acoustic guitar, more like a Dancehall song that most Dancehall fans would hate. It was very catchy too. Likewise "Castle on the Hill" was surprisingly upbeat for a man with an acoustic guitar.

Before his album came out, he released another track "How Would You Feel (Paean)". This sounded more like what I'd expect an Ed Sheeran song to sound like, boring.

When the album came out and flooded the Top 20, the highest charting of the other tracks was "Galway Girl". This certainly wasn't boring, more of a cheesy Irish Folk song that most Irish Folk fans wouldn't like. Maybe that was the point.

On a side note, when I had my fresher's week at uni, one night had an Irish night in one room and a Latin night in the other room. The Irish night was even emptier than the Open Mic nights and the Latin night wasn't the liveliest so we left and went to a nightclub instead. Another sign of how times may have changed.

Then there was "Perfect" which would go on to be Christmas number one. My interpretation of this song is if you play "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" by R Kelly on the acoustic guitar and then change the words you've pretty much got this song.

I've since taken a listen to the remaining eleven tracks that made the Top 20 that week. First up was "New Man" which sounded like an R&B tune that no R&B fans would like. The next three songs "Happier", "Dive" and "Supermarket Flowers" were back to the old acoustic guitar and vocals formula, the latter apparently being a song he wrote for his Grandmother.

It gets a bit livelier with "What Do I Know" but still of the acoustic guitar and vocals variety. Then there was "Barcelona" which as the title suggests is a Spanish sounding record. Then another song for his Grandmother "Nancy Mulligan" which is back to the cheesy Irish Folk sound.

He starts rapping on the song "Eraser" which I find hilarious, particularly when he gives the A14 a mention. Then its back to the acoustic "Hearts Don't Break Around Here" which is instantly forgettable.

He goes back to the Spanish sound with "Bibia Be Ye Ye" and the lowest charting was "Save Myself" which was back to the acoustic sound and I decided I'd had enough and didn't listen to the whole song.

What is apparent is that not all his songs sound the same and it spans multiple genres, albeit watered down versions of the given genre. Maybe that's why he has mass appeal, particularly to the kids who are still trying to find what sort of music they like.

At our Open Mic nights people played different genres of music to each other on the acoustic guitar and its almost like he was there watching and thinking this is the music of the future. Maybe he was at the Irish and Latin nights too and thinking the youngsters don't like it now therefore the next generation of youngsters will like it. Obviously he wasn't there as he'd have still been Primary School age at the time.

He doesn't just appeal to the kids though. I shared a carriage on the tube with a load of Ed Sheeran fans when he played at Wembley and pretty much every age group was there. Writing a song about his grandmother probably helped with that.

There is a skill in what he does, it can be argued that writing a bad song is no easier than writing a good song. Whilst I understand why he may have mass appeal, there is still some sort of mystery as to why he does. But then maybe he knows something we don't, that's why he has that secret formula for writing songs that sells shit loads.