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- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Jul 28, 2014The album is good that’s for sure; Sheeran is too talented to deliver a sub par album. It suffers in terms of consistency.
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Jun 24, 2014Most of these ballads are in the middle of the album, which drags it down somewhat, so it’s a blessed relief when Pharrell returns to produce the excellent Runaway.
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Jun 23, 2014Actually, there’s nothing Sheeran does here that Mraz hasn’t done before, often more cleverly. Even so, Sheeran can write a hummable tune and, clearly, has something young girls love even more than looks: heart.
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Jun 23, 2014There are plenty of oversweet ballad moments ("Tenerife Sea"). But he can be surprisingly hard-bitten, too.
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Jun 30, 2014Though charmingly lo-fi and sure to satisfy any enamoured female fan, most of these tracks drag on too long without any payoff.
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Jul 14, 2014Charmless kiss-offs (“Don’t”) and sappy sentiments (“People Fall in Love in Mysterious Ways”) dominate otherwise, landing with the thud of the authentically uninspiring.
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Jul 1, 2014X is a vapid and overly confident album that feels more like regression than progression for Ed Sheeran's indie folk sound.
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Jun 26, 2014The appeal is easy to hear, but ultimately X undermines emotional rawness with slick production and lyrical goop that feels calculated and bland.
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Jun 24, 2014x's first third is not without its issues but there is charm, not to mention the feeling that Sheeran really is trying to raise his game. A pity, then, that the remaining 35 minutes is alternatively as generic and simpering as it gets.
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Jun 23, 2014The name of the game here may be multiplying, but Sheeran knows where his bread is buttered and that is in writing chick lit, not window-steamers.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 292 out of 381
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Mixed: 27 out of 381
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Negative: 62 out of 381
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Jun 23, 2014
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Jun 24, 2014
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Sep 8, 2014