On Sept. 29, Ed Sheeran released his seventh album “Autumn Variations”. He advertised this album through his social media platforms as a perfect addition to your fall playlists and overall season vibes. The album is about 50 minutes long and consists of 14 tracks. “Autumn Variations” is an important milestone for Sheeran as it is his first album he’s releasing under his own record label “Gingerbread Man Records.” On his Instagram account he noted that he wanted this album to be a calm collection of songs for his fans that he isn’t putting much effort into advertising. As an avid autumn lover and someone who will add the occasional Ed Sheeran song to my playlist, I gave it a listen. After my first listen, three songs stood out to me: “American Town,” “Midnight,” and “The Day I Was Born.”
“American Town” is an upbeat song about an “English girl in an American town.” It brought the promised autumn vibes using several references to the changing of seasons and a chill in the air, as well as just being an overall fun, upbeat love song. This is where I think Sheeran’s talent in music shines. There’s nothing wrong with his rap and other genre songs, but I think these types of songs are the real reason he’s as famous as he is today.
“Midnight.” another upbeat love song, seemed like just another classic Ed Sheeran song. It almost reminded me of “Tides,” a song off of Sheeran’s last album with its higher pitch and happy message. I particularly loved this song because of its chorus: “‘Cause even the worst days of my life will always end/ At midnight in your arms.” I really related this line to getting home and lying with my cat. “Midnight” was definitely a song I could see myself listening to while waking up on a fall morning as the sun rose.
“The Day I Was Born” was a slightly more toned down song that reminded me of an Elton John song. This song really committed to the autumn theme with references to sweaters and colder weather. It tells a story of Sheeran’s birthday passing without a card or call from anyone but his mother. Its upbeat background music created a huge contrast to the depressing lyrics about spending a birthday alone, away from friends who chose to skip a party he tried to plan. The background music is a mix of piano, drums, and other instruments that made the song sound, for lack of a better word, slidey.
Sheeran said his idea behind this album was to end his group of mathematics albums and branch out to new themes of music. He also said “Autumn Variations” was inspired by composer Edward Elgar and his album “Enigma Variations,” in which there were 14 songs each about a different one of his friends. I can see how Sheeran reflected this with 14 different songs all about different aspects of his and his friends lives. His other idea for this album was to capture the feeling of autumn in it. To me, he absolutely achieved this through both the lyrical and musical parts of the album.
After a few more listens I noticed a couple other songs that I like. “Spring” is a track about his feelings of the colder months nearing and his mental health declining due to this. I think this song is a really good motivational song about just moving on from bad things. The next song on the album, “Punchline,” reminded me of his other song “Bloodstream” I loved the buildup and impactful lyrics about feeling like he’s the punchline of every joke. “Punchline” sounded like the blueprint of a typical pop Ed Sheeran song.
Several songs from “Autumn Variations” are now in my usual streaming rotation, and, overall, I really enjoyed the album. It lived up to every expectation given on the feeling of the album, with impactful lyrics that painted a story but also set a setting of autumn. I’m very excited to see where he goes next with his exit from the mathematics era of albums, and I hope he moves on with more concept albums like this.
