A third continent, maybe…
[Video]
[5.88]
Wayne Weizhen Zhang: I’m sorry to inform you that “Ed Sheeran Releases Afrobeats Single” is no longer just a hypothetical Onion headline. I’m also sorry to inform you that the parts of this song where he is absent are actually really good and catchy.
[4]
Crystal Leww: I tweeted something flippant about Ed Sheeran’s foray into non-Western pop scenes the other day and was gently given some context by some mutuals, including Micha, who pointed out that Ed Sheeran’s always been a music omnivore, someone who seemingly has a genuine interest in non-white dude music. And that makes sense; while he might look a little dorky in the music video for “Peru” as the redhead getting down at the party, he’s a seamless duet partner for Fireboy DML on the track itself. “Peru” is a song that feels like it’s barely there, but it’s got a repeatable hook that’ll stick. Peru para — Fireboy DML whispers like a dancefloor companion that’s gotten close throughout the night, shy at first, slowly finding their groove as the drums have boomed all night.
[7]
Nortey Dowuona: The soft, thinly spread shower curtains behind the scattered and tiptoeing drums are only able to hold Fireboy’s light, thin voice because he doesn’t try to strain or wail, he just whimpers and whines. Ed, however, does have a bright yet raspy voice that is capable of carrying weight, yet incapable of touching any kind of delicate arrangement without bouncing off it (“Take Me Back To London”) or breaking it (“Own It”). Yet here, he floats, just heavy enough to define his own voice but light enough to build upon this kind of light, delicate arrangement, and his echoes buoy his voice at the right place to keep the song ticking along. This is how you collaborate with a big name, by using them to support, not steal the song (Justin Bieber) or waste the song (Drake).
[7]
Andy Hutchins: The original “Peru,” a stunning, delicate Afrobeat-meets-dancehall track that Fireboy DML skims with graceful effortlessness, is a [10] — so it is fair to assess the ginger moppet who spent 2021 cosplaying as a vampire or whatever (I am not fact-checking my feelings, sorry) as being here for the purposes of making it a global megahit because he’s well-known, not because he can improve the song in any meaningful way. To his credit, he does not fuck it up, though his cameo is far too long (half as long as the three-verse original song!) and no one has ever needed to hear Ed Sheeran say “slow wine” even if his patois is fine; probably, that’s a credit to the groove that producer Shizzi finds, snares as crisp as winter winds cracking an expanse of icy synths. It’s a complication of the simpler stuff that DJ Mustard ran rap and R&B production with for about three full years — and Mustard never made something this crystalline and perfect.
[7]
Alfred Soto: Bob Dylan had “Mozambique,” about which he knew nothing, but apparently he flipped through a National Geographic at the dentist and saw pictures of its people splish-splashin’ in a creek or something. Now Ed Sheeran uses this South American coastal country, home of several of my close chums, to channel a fourth-rate exoticism. Trop-house riddims in 2022?
[4]
Alex Clifton: I can’t tell if I’m getting older and my hearing’s conking out, or if I’m actually supposed to understand any of the words said in this song. It feels like there’s been a trend over the past few years for vocals to be super liquid, which in theory sounds really cool, but actually means that I can’t parse anything other than general phonetic sounds. I recognize that’s also secondary to a dance song like this, but it’s annoying nonetheless; if I go dancing, I want to be able to sing along, not just mumble the tune. At least it sounds okay and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Ed Sheeran is so omnipresent in music, like the sound of a drum machine or a guitar. In fact, Ed Sheeran is am instrument, and also the world’s foremost player of this instrument. What I’m trying to get at here is that he might as well just be a particular preset on a machine, and on half of his verse I don’t even recognise him. The song might be better off without him, but there’s nothing offensive about his presence.
[7]
Rodrigo Pasta: A fun presence! The production is too sparse for my liking, in particular within the Afrobeats genre — I tend to prefer a bit more bass to the proceedings. Fireboy’s delivery is fun, albeit maybe a tad too insisting with this constant nagging feeling that, in turn, doesn’t fit Ed Sheeran’s more relaxed verse on the remix. You can tell who has the higher priorities in this song, whose stakes are higher. So when Ed shows up, capping off a mostly pretty alright 2021, he sounds — still surprisingly — right at home within this sound, the way he did in “I Don’t Care” back in 2019. His voice is not as stale or as restrained as others in his modern, “hip” adult contemporary lane; he can find a way around multiple hooks as well as playing with Fireboy’s. That said, “Peru? Nah/Girl, I’d rather go find somewhere quiet”; what did Peru do to you, Ed?!
[7]