We were, actually!
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[3.38]
Anthony Easton: I cry at Cat Stevens, pump earnestness, and await a Nashville remake. It would be dishonest if I said that I didn’t love this.
[8]
Alfred Soto: Each time the title hook makes an appearance it garnishes increasingly laughable scenarios — he wasn’t expecting her hand in his? She wasn’t expecting to end up in his bed? This 2011 hit in the dominions highlights the most concerted case of “Shit happens” since Forrest Gump. In truth, the dispassion and fake humility chilled me.
[1]
Micha Cavaseno: I’m not surprised this got covered by old Frog Face Sheeran — it’s not too far a leap *jabs an obnoxious elbow in your side and hisses “GEDDIT!?!?”* from his own street performer/coffee house style hokiness. At the end of the day, though, it’s less of a song than a phonetic game. He might’ve not been expecting that, but 30 seconds in we get the annoying joke, and he needs to take his banana peels and pie-in-the-face garbage out of here.
[1]
Scott Mildenhall: Doesn’t even merit a punchline.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Wasn’t expecting much, but somehow more boring than I thought, even with a gut-punching ending that seems like a Hail Mary pass at getting some sympathy.
[3]
Thomas Inskeep: The first signee to Ed Sheeran’s label sounds skin-crawlingly like Ed Sheeran. You get what you pay for.
[1]
Katherine St Asaph: Ed Sheeran has found the exact midpoint of himself and Nate Ruess — he’s good at something! Specifically, he is good at A&R, in the same way the inventors of supermarket tomatoes are good at genetics.
[3]
Ramzi Awn: Idleminded strumming is seldom a bad look. The piano saves Lawson, and Richard Thompson might be surprised by “Wasn’t Expecting That.”
[6]