Ed Sheeran’s Autumn Variations leaves critics disappointed with ‘unimaginative ballads’, but the star is being praised for a ‘stylish departure’ from his math symbol albums

Ed Sheeran’s Autumn Variations has divided critics.

The 32-year-old singer released his seventh album on Friday, just four months after Subtract, a searing look at his grief and depression in the wake of his wife’s health problems and the death of his friend Jamal Edwards.

In stark contrast, Autumn Variations turns the spotlight on his friends, with Ed revealing that he “wrote songs, some from their perspective, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at the time.”

The new record, inspired by classical composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations and a collaboration with musician Aaron Dessner, has left some critics impressed with its melodies, while others lamented the loss of the raw and candid lyrics on his previous album.

It is the first non-collaborative studio album with a title that is not a math symbol, following 2011’s Plus, 2014’s Multiply, 2017’s Divide and 2021’s Equals. The last math album, Subtract, was released in May.

The guardRachel Aroesti awarded Autumn Variations two stars, noting that “plodding, genre-hopping songs all end up as unimaginative ballads,” noting that “most of the songs ultimately end up in the same realm: that of a dull, plodding, vaguely sentimental ballad brag. at least one instantly memorable hook.”

NMEThomas Smith also opted for a two-star review, writing that Ed’s “second album in several months doesn’t jump-start this next phase of his catalog,” joking, “Spring and summer can’t come soon enough.’

Three stars were awarded by The independentHelen Brown, who shared: “There’s obviously no standout tune here to match Elgar’s ‘Nimrod’, but there’s enough smooth seasonal sentimentality to fill the Royal Albert Hall.”

On sister paper, iEd Power also gave three stars, reasoning: ‘The smartest way to approach Autumn Variations is as an unexpected bonus. Like the dynamic between Taylor Swift’s Folklore and the frothy Evermore, it is best appreciated as a looser companion to Subtract.’

Tip about the better reviews, David Smyth at Evening standard awarded four stars and says Ed “still moves at a breathtaking pace, he has something to say with his music other than ‘Buy me!’

The timesWill Hodgkinson noted that Ed ‘has a way of taking mundane aspects of life and imbuing them with real feeling in a melody that sticks in the mind. For all its apparent normalcy, that is truly a rare skill,” and awarded the album four stars.

The Financial Times also went for four stars, with Ludovic Hunter-Tilney sharing: ‘He’s an inveterate sentimentalist, but the mood is less mawkish than before. The booming choruses that loomed like stadiums above Subtract’s songs are also less prominent. Autumn Variations may not destroy the formula, but it is a change for the better.”

Four stars came from it Subway‘s Emma Harrison, who wrote, “From the heady bliss of falling in love to the depths of despair of heartbreak, no stone or theme is left unturned.”

Adrian Thrills of The Daily Mail gave Ed four stars, noting that while Autumn Variations “feels less raw” than Subtract, “the music here has a gentle clarity reminiscent of a more familiar Ed, with Dessner’s stripped-down arrangements giving rise to some of the sweetest. melodies from his career.’

The TelegraphJames Hall gave the album five stars, calling it “a stylistic departure’ from his mathematical symbol albums, noting that it’s ‘commercial but acceptably adventurous – you don’t fill stadiums by scaring the horses – Autumn Variations sounds like Sheeran is cutting loose. And it will undoubtedly call everything into question.”

Autumn variations do Ed’s first album from his own record label Gingerbread Man.

The musician explained in the fall of 2022 that for all his friends everything seemed calm and settled or was falling apart and imploding. He said: “When I was going through a tough time early last year, songwriting helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on.

“When I heard about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspective, some from mine, to capture how she and I viewed the world at the time.”

It was inspired by Elgar’s Enigma Variations, who created 14 compositions based on 14 friends, so Ed decided to do the same with Aaron Dessner, who worked closely with Ed on Subtract.

‘We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born from that collaboration.

“I feel like he captured the feeling of autumn so beautifully in his sounds and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”

Ed reportedly hinted at marital problems with his wife Cherry Seaborn in the lyrics of Punchline about an imploding romance.

The text reads: ‘I can’t help being destructive now. It’s been weeks since I saw your sketch.

‘In my room there is a silence so loud. This is what losing hope might sound like.”

During the emotional chorus, it continued, “I can’t help it but I love you so. I can’t bear this letting go. I still feel like we can work it out or something.

‘All I am is just flesh and bones. Why is your heart so cold?’

Ed, 32, and Cherry, 31, who have been together since 2015, tied the knot in 2019.

The couple are parents to daughters Jupiter, 15 months, and Lyra, two.

In another song, Ed described their “bumpy road” and emphasized in the song that this is “not the end of our lives.”

He sings, “This isn’t the end of our lives, this is just a bump in the ride. I know it’s going to be okay.’

In the song The Day I Was Born he sings: ‘I split from my love a few months ago, if they were here I wouldn’t be alone, I think.’

However, it is unclear on the album which songs were written based on Ed’s personal experiences, as he has previously said that the album is about both his and his friend’s lives.