There are many sides to Ed Sheeran and today we’re seeing two of them.
After releasing the duet version of his track “Perfect” with Beyoncé, which gave Queen Bey her first number one hit in nine years (how is that possible?), Sheeran is looking to get even more mileage out of his love ballad. This time, the English musician has enlisted the help of another A-list singer and is going in a totally different direction.
In October, Ed travelled to Tuscany where he met with famed Opera singer Andrea Bocelli. Enlisting a symphony to back the latest version of the song, Sheeran sings the first verse of “Perfect” in English before Bocelli takes over with his stunning vocals, singing the song in Italian. Sheeran comes in near the end of the song to also sing in Italian, with the two making us fall in love all over again with the breathtaking ballad. We really need to listen to more opera. That’s amore.
Pulling a 180, Sheeran’s second new track to be released today is thanks to a collaboration with his idol, Eminem. Sheeran, who often credits Eminem as being one of the reasons he became interested in music and rapping, is one of the featured artists on Marshall Mather’s ninth studio album Revival.
The pair perform together on the dark track “River,” with Sheeran holding down the chorus as Eminem delivers his trademark spitfire stream of consciousness verses about love gone wrong. The track sounds almost more like a Sheeran song than an Eminem single, but maybe that’s because Ed’s music has been so heavily influenced by Slim Shady.
In addition to Ed, Revival, which was released today, also features guest appearances from Beyoncé, Phresher, Alicia Keys, X Ambassadors, Grey, Kehlani, and Pink.
