Music Review: Ed Sheeran returns to his roots on 'Play,' a cross-cultural playground

Audio By Carbonatix

NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Sheeran has long sought to bring people together with his music, whether it be his emotionally resonant acoustic ballads or unproblematic, danceable pop hits. “Play,” his eighth studio album out Friday, stays in that familiar lane for the most part.

In his quest, Sheeran has maintained an everyman quality by carefully evolving with the status quo (while, largely, removing himself from public discourse, save his copyright court win and more recent promotional pop-ups in everyman places, like a New York City ice cream shop just this week). The aesthetic of Ed Sheeran, global star, still matches that of Ed Sheeran, up-and-coming troubadour. Most of the time, it's still just Sheeran, his guitar and his loop pedal against the world.

Of course, Sheeran, like most pop stars, knows that as his stardom has risen and his audience widened, the meaning of that relatability has shifted. His listeners, over a decade in, know that too. So “Play,” the first project in a new series from Sheeran named for symbols (he's said “Rewind” will be next), uses Sheeran's global acclaim to his advantage — without straying too far from his singer-songwriter roots.

Recorded throughout his “Mathematics World Tour” and finished in Goa, India, the project feels split. There are moments that herald the return of Sheeran the hitmaker, an exciting development after his last two albums — the final chapter of his mathematics series, “Subtract,” and the folk-pop “Autumn Variations” — were well received but failed to produce the kind of chart-toppers that created Sheeran, the megastar. Most tracks, however, fall more in line with those albums, deviating little from the narrative songwriting toolkit that raised Sheeran, the artist.

Sheeran turned to new collaborators for a couple songs that are already established hits. The addictive “Sapphire” features Indian singer Arijit Singh, who ranks among Spotify's most popular artists globally. A Farsi version of the single “Azizam,” written and produced with Ilya Salmanzadeh, Savan Kotecha and Johnny McDaid, was released in April featuring Iranian singer Googoosh. Sheeran isn't just eyeing the U.S. and U.K. charts here — he's playing for cross-cultural domination, and having fun while doing it.

The rest of the tracks, those that feel more classically Sheeran, see old themes recycled: “Old Phone” provides him the space to remember old friends and reminisce about his changing personal life, just as the landscape in 2017's “Castle on the Hill” provided a tangible marker of memory. The conceit of the sappily sweet “Camera” — “I don't need a camera to capture this moment” — comes in conflict with that of Sheeran's own beloved “Photograph” from 2014's “Multiply.”

There are still moments that feel like they'll stick: Sheeran's ode to his daughters, “For Always,” with cooing backing vocals from co-writer Amy Allen, is sure to be a favorite father-daughter dance track, right behind the groovy “The Vow” on wedding playlists.

Sheeran flexes his pen on “Opening,” the album's first track. Bounded by glittery verses about boundaries, he raps about his family, his mental health, that court case, fame and what comes next. “Been a long time up top but I ain’t complacent/If I look down I can see replacements,” he raps at one point. “Gotta make dreams and chase them.”

Sheeran wants to be for everyone. And to do that, he'll still be an everyman.

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“Play” by Ed Sheeran

Three stars out of five.

On Repeat: “Opening”

Skip it: “Camera”

For fans of: Romance novels, Bollywood playback singing, “The Shape of You,” Coldplay