Film Review: Ed Sheeran’s Songwriter Is Truly About The Music
When you think of music documentaries, you, usually, think high drama. Pictures and home videos flash in-between clips of concerts, and “supposed friends “ voice over to discuss how the artist was tortured. Yeah….. you are not going to get any of that with Ed Sheeran’s new documentary: Songwriter.
Directed by Murray Cummings, his cousin, Songwriter revolutionizes music documentaries by truly being about music. For 84 minutes, you get a “behind the scenes” pass as you watch Sheeran create his music, and transition from the success Multiply into his newest record: Divide. The film feels like you have been let into a giant recording session, and, technically, you have. From Julia Michaels to Ryan Tedder, artists and musicians stroll onto the screen to simply make tracks. In truly being about the music, Songwriter, oddly, makes you say, “Huh?”
During Songwriter, you might look at the screen and ask, “Where are the drugs, the sex, and bad decisions?” Yet, fortunately and refreshingly, you will not get that. The only “moments” of tension come in trying to finish a songs or when Ed needs a social media break. Even that is followed by pictures and private clips of Ed happily traveling around the world with friends and family. Still, it moved me to see a good artist be a good guy and have a good life. Of course, when the film splashes clips of Ed Sheeran’s beginnings, you get excited, and wished there was more. Some people forget that the rise to the “top” is a process, and Ed Sheeran was lucky that process went pretty quickly. Yet, he did earn it with talent, and is trying to enjoy it with his heart.
From Foy Vance to Benny Blanco, you will hear people/ fellow artists laud Ed Sheeran as a genius. We all know that he has enraptured the industry and audiences with his amiability and welcoming harmlessness. In Songwriter, you get a feeling, through his sound and demeanor, that Ed Sheeran is a man that genuinely wants to be happy, which means he has no time for drama. In a world, where news feeds can feel bombarded by petty tales of the rich and famous, you feel taken aback that Ed is, technically, a celebrity and succeeding as apart of that world. Why? Because he is enjoying what he has, working diligently to give art to others, and not begging for the world’s attention to watch him do both.
There is no denying that people are jealous of Ed Sheeran. Whether you are a struggling artist or just a general, struggling human being, it slightly burns the soul to know that most of us will never be able to travel the world, buy whatever we want when we go to a store, and call over our favorite artists to chill at our mansion. Frankly, many of us, will not even get a quarter of Ed Sheeran’s blessings, but Songwriter makes you happy that he got them. It is nice to see someone whom does not want to hurt or stir trouble, and whose biggest struggle is balancing his dedicated work to his fans with his dedicated work on himself. As a human being, that is impressively amazing, and you can feel my similar awe when Songwriter hits theaters on August 17 and Apple Music on August 28.
