Ed Sheeran is a 25-year old British singer-songwriter who combines folk, indie pop and acoustic styles. His breakout single "The A Team" was released commercially in 2011, debuting at #3 on the UK charts and becoming the highest selling debut single of that year. The low-budget music video for "The A Team" cost only £20 to make but effectively portrayed the song's narrative through use of black and white film, time-lapsing, and depiction of the character's revealing clothing. Sheeran has since achieved international success with his albums "+" in 2011 and "X" in 2014, both of which included multiple top 5 singles in the UK and US.

1. Case Study
By Tara Leggett
Ed Sheeran

2. Fact profile
 Ed Sheeran is a 25 year old British singer/song
writer, born on 17th February 1991
 Sheeran combines folk, indie pop and acoustic
into his music
 He began recording in 2005, which led to the
release of his EP ‘The Orange Room’ in March
 He was signed by Atlantic Records in January
2011

3. First official song release
 The song "The A Team" was his first song
released commercially. This entered the UK
charts at number 3, selling 57,607 copies in its
first week. It was the highest selling, and highest
charting debut single of 2011

4. ‘The A Team’ Music Video
 The video portrays a narrative of a prostitute who
takes class A drugs and is found dead and is
showing how she ended up there. The narrative
fits with lyrics and genre. The music video is in
black an white and time lapsing is used. These
techniques help express to the audience how the
character would be feeling. The character is
dressed in revealing clothes this is typical of what
a prostitute would wear.

5. ‘The A Team’ music video cont.
 The music video for ‘The A team’ was directed
and shot by Ruskin Kyle. This cost only £20 to
make. However due to the low budget it doesn’t
look as professional as bigger budget music
videos such as ‘Lego House’ from the same
album or ‘Sing’ from his later album ‘X’. The
camera is shaky and the lighting is sometimes too
light or dark for the setting. This doesn’t create
verisimilitude for the audience, however the
guerrilla style contributes to the feeling of the
narrative.

6. Iconography
 Ed Sheeran uses continuity throughout his
websites with using the same background colours
and fonts.• He has a signature black paw print
that is featured on some of his products and
website. This is instantly recognisable and an
example of iconography

7. First official album release
 Sheeran’s first album, ‘+’ was released in
September 2011. It features songs written and
recorded from January 2011.
 Singles from the album such as ‘The A Team’,
‘You Need Me I Don’t Need You’ and ‘Lego house’
reached number 3, 4 and 5 on the UK Singles
Chart.
 Three further singles—“Drunk", “Small Bump",
and “Give Me Love"—were released throughout
the year, all charting within the top 25 of the UK

8. Second album release
 Ed Sheeran released his second album, ‘X’ in
June 2014 after recording all of it’s songs from
2013/2014
 It has become an international success, peaking
at No. 1 in fifteen countries, while topping both
the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard 200.
‘X’ also reached the top 5 in seven other
countries and was the best selling album of 2014
in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United
Kingdom.

9. Celebrity Links
 Ed Sheeran has worked with many other
successful international artists, including:
- Taylor Swift (whom he has formed a good
friendship with)
- Pharrell Williams (with whom he shared a UK
number 1 single)
- Rudimental (whom accompanied him on one of
the 3 nights that Sheeran performed solo at
Wembley Stadium)