Plagiarism, cancer and the death of a friend: Ed Sheeran, the demons of a phenomenon

Working in the studio, Ed Sheeran looks lively. But between verses and melodies that he tries again and again, the colorín cannot avoid some problems. “Difficult times came one after another” confess in Ed Sheeran, the sum of it all. A difficult family situation, a plagiarism lawsuit and the death of his best friend and mentor hit him right in the middle of the process after – (it’s pronounced Abstract)his new album.

Cherry [su esposa] he had a tumor in his arm. The diagnosis was wrong. They couldn’t do anything. Then I had a trial that lasted three weeks. Then Jamal died [Edwards, empresario discográfico y cercano al músico]. When you learn that the worst has happened to someone you love very much, you feel like you’re drowning and you can’t come to the surface”, explains the artist at one point in the disc.

The singer-songwriter, one of the biggest names in current pop opens his private life to the cameras in the project which in the code of a docuseries in four episodes , of a little over half an hour each, arrives this May 3 on the Disney + platform. It’s supposed to be the prelude to the release of his new album (in fact, it comes out this Friday the 5th), but in reality, it goes a little further.

In a strict sense, the documentary is a more personal look at the artist. “I have always been very protective of my personal and private life. The only documentary I made was centered on my composition Sheeran said in a statement. Disney approached me to do a four episode docuseries and I felt the time was right to open the doors and let people in. I hope you like”.

It is an audiovisual production by Fulwell 73 Production, the same people behind musical projects such as Elton John Live: The Farewell Show And Adele: Just one night. This, as we have said, is organized around four episodes, organized in turn around a thematic axis: love, loss, concentration and balance.

The work takes moments from his childhood when he was a colorful boy who loved to rap, until his debut as a singer-songwriter at 17, when he decided to drop out of school to devote himself full-time to music. Then begins an intense program of presentations at the bowling alley, supported only by a small team and an electro-acoustic guitar. At that time, he himself sold CDs with his music.

So, little by little, he began to make a name for himself thanks to his surprisingly good material and his good voice, honed in his years as a school choir. “Because of my appearance, people were confused. The record companies rejected me.” , Sheeran said at one point. There comes Jamal Edwards, a young entrepreneur who had a small music video channel called SBTV, who saw Sheeran perform and noticed his potential. The session he recorded for his channel surpassed 20,000 views and kind of pushed the Sheeran phenomenon as viral before the viral era.

But suddenly, Edwards died at age 31 in February 2022. The coroner determined that the cause was the mixture of cocaine and alcohol. It was a devastating blow for the artist, who suddenly felt the brunt of the situation. The meltdown occurs when he attends a dinner honoring his late friend. “I feel overwhelmed,” he admits to the camera before shedding a few held back tears.

The documentary also develops the musical side delving into the history of some of his most recognized songs. There is space for Perfect, dedicated to Cherry Seaborn, his classmate who ended up being his wife. Of course, there’s room to tell how they met and fell in love after a few years of not seeing each other.

“She went to college in the States and I started touring. I didn’t see her for nine years.” Sheeran recalls. The meeting took place in New York. “We started dating. It felt very natural, we thought it was the right thing to do.” , add. Everything will change when she is diagnosed with cancer in the middle of her pregnancy with her second daughter. A coup that happened right after the death of Jamal Edwards.

Like an escalating storm, in a few days, Sheeran faces trial for plagiarism of his tube Form on you. An episode that the documentary only touches on tangentially, with the occasional mention of the artist himself. Ironically, the premiere comes just as Sheeran is facing another plagiarism lawsuit, this time over alleged similarities between his hit. Thinking out loud and the classic let’s go by Marvin Gaye. Even on April 27, the singer-songwriter took his guitar to court and gave a hands-on demonstration of how he worked on his debut release’s theme.

In general, Ed Sheeran, the sum of everything, is a documentary that tends to convey an image of the artist as a warm, talented and sensitive guy. He’s opening up to his inner world and showing off some of his work for his new album (with The National’s producer Aaron Dessner) and behind the scenes of some of his massive shows. And while he dives into some of his most recent demons, he omits details such as drug addiction, plagiarism lawsuits and depression, but offers some limited confessions from the artist himself about how fame and problems overwhelm him. He demonstrates a convincing honesty, which is probably one of his greatest strengths.