Ed Sheeran is back with the last installment of his mathematics albums, and if you haven’t already, you should go get some Kleenex.
The 32-year-old linguistic maestro returned to his musical origins for the 14-track collection of illustrated tracks that sound very similar to The A Team Ed we all know and love.
Subtract is an intimate diary, not an album. It’s a blissfully melodic whirlpool of grief, agony, depression, guilt, hope, sorrow, and overwhelming love.
Referencing his wife Cherry’s cancer diagnosis during pregnancy and his close friend Jamal Edwards’ death, the pages of Ed’s most intimate calligraphy to date tell the star’s anguish over the previous few years.
The set selection takes the listener through the ups and downs of the singer’s fight to remain afloat in the middle of drowning sadness, and it generates a deep sense of introspection when the final song fades to black.
With Kleenex at the ready, let’s plunge headfirst into the Grammy-winning artist’s final appearance of a number sign…
1. BOAT
Ed begins the musical monologue by introducing the notion of a weather motif, which he will utilise throughout the record to express his struggle. A comforting warmth that is consistent with the Ed of 2004 engulfs the tragic lines from the opening note. His clean voice create the emotional tone and act with a sensitivity that foreshadows what’s to come. The song is a toe-tapper that grows with the assistance of a choir that adds joyful tones to the underlayer of sadness. It is very reminiscent of old folklore storytelling and gets things off to a great start.
2. SALT WATER
If Boat was the introduction, Salt Water is the opening page of Chapter One, and it immediately compels the listener to sit up and pay notice as the storyteller and his backing track adopt a more serious tone. While steady drum beats drive home the constant suffering pounding his spirit, piano keys keep the melody drowning on. Female vocal harmonies bring rays of brightness to the music, which nearly sounds like his soul is on fire from the intensity of the fight. The song’s bridge takes on an otherworldly tone, as if Ed is singing from the bottom of the ocean. He beautifully bellows out the lines ’embrace the depths and forsake everything’ and allows himself to sink in his grief as the song fades away.
3. EYES CLOSED
This is Jamal Edwards’ homage, which begins with a bright tune and lulls the listener into a false feeling of hope with its happy-clappy tempo. The aggressive guitar and quick musical rhythms perfectly represent the star’s attempts to move on after the awful death of his companion, while the words reveal the unravelling of a person overwhelmed in grief. This song is evocative of Ed as he strips it all back, strums his guitar, and pours his heart out.
4. LIFE GOES ON
‘It hit like a train,’ Ed sings as he begins to describe his wife Cherry’s sudden cancer diagnosis when she was pregnant. Listening to this one makes you feel like you and Ed are alone in a comfortable tavern while he expresses his concerns. The words float like a plea to his wife to improve, as he dreads the thought of living without her. Rolling chords and lone guitars evoke a folkloric mood, reminiscent of his earlier work I See Fire. It’s a simple tune that mimics the matter-of-factness in the brutal reality that life is ‘easy come, hard go’.
5. DUSTY
This is the one outlier on the album that has the potential to be Marmite – you’ll either love it or detest it for its hip-hop-esque electronic overtones. Despite the song’s intrusive – at times – drum machines and synthetic vocals, the lyrics represent a type of breakthrough and optimism for the future for the first time. A mesmerising pace propels the tale along, revealing indications of emerging from the darkness as he recognises, “the future is so bright.” The bridge introduces a somewhat strange transition in the music that isn’t far from the tinny sound of a 90s boyband and feels a bit out of place. The turning point track concludes on a high-sounding frequency, conjuring up images of the vocalist floating on top of a motionless ocean.
6. END OF YOUTH
The following tune descends again, taking the writer back to the depths of sorrow and minor chords, much like life’s ups and downs. Sad melodies repeated by gloomy strings provide a whine that underpins weeping requests. Ed’s tortured voice communicates the physical toll his grief has placed on him as he reveals he tried to ‘end my life’. In what may be the album’s most brutally honest track, the beautiful chorus serves as a scream for aid.
7. COLOURBLIND
This one begins with youthful innocence and ends with a whimsical atmosphere thanks to staccato piano chords and love words. The musical elements evoke recollections of fan favourite Thinking Out Loud, heralding the return of Ed’s unique composition. The melody is uplifting, instilling optimism once more, and the listener can almost hear the vocalist smiling as he gives his tale in a honey-drippling voice. The high pitch provides an angelic impression to the words, and the waltz beat combined with a choir takes the ear flying into fantasies of what may be.
8. CURTAINS
Continuing his quest for optimism, Ed sings at a lower tone than previously, displaying the underlying roughness in his voice. This one will excite the rockers among us as it falls into a melodious mix of cymbals, violent drumming, electric guitars, and a vocal delivery that slaps you in the face, highlighting his will to withstand the suffering. You find yourself unconsciously nodding your head as you encourage Ed to succeed. As though gaining power right before your eyes, the singer announces he’s ‘done with my hiding hole’ and offers himself and the audience the rock-infused pep talk we all need to get through the bad times.
9. BORDERLINE
With its light, repetitive piano chords and detailed lyrics, the song returns to the water motif and symbolises a recurrence of sadness and overwhelm. A mismatch of highs and lows, it feels as if the narrator is having a two-way dialogue with himself as he grapples with the limitations of his melancholy. Ed pushes his voice and engages in vocal acrobatics as he approaches highs beyond anything we’ve heard before, resulting in some of the album’s most stunning sounds. He leans on the strings for support, as though straining for greater heights, while the piano keeps time. The chorus relates the tale of the sun bursting through the clouds and completes the song, which seems like a wonderful chapter ending.
10. SPARK
The sparkly melody does exactly what it says on the box, echoing the hopeful words as Ed begins to drive his epic narrative home. Short sticky words, clicking noises, and a lively beat all give the impression that the star is fighting the storm before the calm. The music has the sensation of a rough wave trying to level out. Drums emphasise that it’s all up from here, and Ed’s high register reminds us of the lofty hopes that lie ahead as he attempts to ‘burn our old life’ in preparation for a new one. The song is similar to a backup act to the belter that follows.
11. VEGA
Returning to the folkloric vibe of the collection’s beginning, this tune appears to depict Cherry’s life-changing health fight, which prompted Ed to crumble ‘under all the weight’ once more. There’s an unsettling peacefulness to the music that feels like a defeat although the words carve out a potential for everything to be alright when he says ‘if we believe then she’ll get well’. To underline the suffering, the repeated repetition ‘it burns like hell to be vega’ is sung unaccompanied and all on the same note. Plucked notes simulate a beating heart, and one thing is certain: this one will grab you right where it hurts by tugging on your emotional strings.
12. SYCAMORE
This following song evokes feelings of relief and recuperation from a horrific event. Ed sings with cautious optimism, reeling off clear lyrics about his time beside his wife’s hospital bed and pairing them with wailing strings that sound as though he’s too terrified to let happiness in. On a brighter note, he realises that love conquers all and expresses his thankfulness for his enduring love for Cherry on a reel of continuous musical notes. In this song, he holds back a little on his musical talent, echoing the tone of his words.
13. NO STRINGS
Ed thrashes out his displeasure with pounding piano notes that hammer home the point that ‘this is no strings, you are who I love’. The slow phrases and gappy annunciation all add to the singer’s certainty, and the composition’s childish simplicity makes it simple to comprehend his feeling. Breaking it down, this song is true in its simple message that, in the midst of turmoil, love triumphs. Simple, yet quite effective.
14. HILLS OF ABERFELDY
Celtic, traditional, folk singing opens the emotional maelstrom album’s closing track and effortlessly creates the wooded environment for the listener. Ed begins with a dramatic solo beginning and twists his voice to seem like an ancient worldly bard. As Ed emerges in a wave of acceptance, a sound like a bagpipe breaks through the smoke and dust, and guitar strumming bashes away the cloud of sorrow. The charming no-frills tune seems as though he has finally reached his place of serenity, and he brilliantly closes his sixth studio album on a note of total certainty that his love will ‘never find another heart that desires you more than mine’.
Subtract could not be a more fitting collection of tracks to end an era of gut-wrenching tunes we’ll never forget. It’s an ode to suffering as we’ve heard – and loved – before.
We’ve missed you, Ed, and we’re glad you’re back.
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