At first glance, Ed Sheeran’s single “Thinking Out Loud” appears to get a lot of things right. It avoids many popular music cliches, and the song does a lot to establish an identity of its own.
Unlike the majority of modern music, “Thinking Out Loud” does not put very much focus on its beat or on a brief, repetitive chorus. The song has a soft, instrumental beat that exists to compliment the song’s lyrics rather than overshadow them.
The song’s theme deals with the prospect of growing old with someone you love, and that theme has not often been explored in music as a whole.
“Thinking Out Loud” has a lot of unique aspects that should be working in its favor however for the most part the song fails to take advantage of those aspects.
The lyrics, for all the emphasis they get, do not stand out in any particular way. The lyrics are not bad; they just aren’t memorable, and despite the song’s interesting theme they fail to convey anything unique.
“Thinking Out Loud” seems to have received a lot of attention based solely on how different it is than other singles that are being released.
This does not mean that “Thinking Out Loud” is an entirely bad song. It is a love song that, unlike many other modern songs, makes no apologies for being a love song. “Thinking Out Loud” does not attempt to cover up its message with catchy lyrics or loud music.
I wanted to like “Thinking Out Loud.” It does many of the things I constantly say that modern music should do. However, if “Uptown Funk” is an example of how a formulaic song can still be different and interesting, then “Thinking Out Loud” is an example of how an interesting song can fail to take advantage of some of its best qualities.
3 / 5 stars
