If you are like me, you associate with a large and diverse group of people. I am friends with people of every color, class, major, and everything in between. One thing that this does for me is it allows me to see the different types of things that influence people I know. One common trait I have found between most people is music. Everyone has their own style that they love. Some people are metal heads, some are rockers, and some are country through and through. And, generally, people will also have another genre or category that they cannot stand. It is because of these ideas that it is rare, and almost unheard of, for one artist to have such an influence across the board. But, that is exactly what Ed Sheeran has done.
On the chance that you live in a cave, Ed Sheeran is a pop/rapper/singer-song writer from Europe. Over the past five or so years, he has risen to incredible stardom in the US from his first album, “+”, to his upcoming album "divide". This isn’t just a fan boy letter, so stick with me. The beauty in Sheeran’s rise to international fame is all of the lesser known work that he puts in day in and day out to remain one of, if not the most, well known music icons on this planet.
Sheeran’s work ethic is unmatched. Before making his way into the spotlight, he performed over 300 live shows in one year. You can see the dedication to his art that he has--you can see this in his performances, his interactions with fans, and in the quality of the songs themselves. It is because of this dedication that Sheeran should be called “the ideal model” for whatever your trade is.
No matter what your job is, whether a temporary job or your career, you should always try to be the very best at what you do. You should strive for excellence every single day. Through a quick search on the internet, you can read all about the struggles that Ed went through. Being a young kid in the cutthroat career field that is the music industry, he had the desire to be the best in the world. (Purely opinion, but I think that he succeeded.) Ed showed that if you are willing to give your all for something, you can achieve it. This mindset applies to anything that you could do; it doesn’t matter if you are in school, or if you have been working for years. If you aren’t willing to grind, then someone else will and they will take your place.
Another quality that we see in Sheeran is that he is constantly changing and growing. I became a fan back when I was in high school and heard “The A Team” playing on the radio. I was moving out of my rap stage of life and that song just hit me and has stuck with me. It is still one of my go-to songs when I play guitar for people. After that album, we saw "multiply" come and it was full of tracks that conveyed every emotion imaginable. Whether you were in love, dealing with heartache, or you were tight with your boys, there was a track on there that conveyed those feelings. Now, with the upcoming "divide" (next week!) in which we have seen just a sample, it is clear that this album will be full of songs that will stick with many of us for years to come.
Some of the songs have already been released and they have proved to be big hits already. “Castle on the Hill” reminds us about the ones who were there for us and raised us up. “Shape of You” does something that isn’t done very often: It appreciates the female body for what it is, not an over-sexualized object that it is so often portrayed as. “How Would You Feel” will be a song that I can already tell will be used for tons of proposal videos on YouTube.
All of Ed's albums are spectacular, but they are completely different from each other. They each make the other great, but hold their own. I tell you all of this to say that in order to stay at the top, you have to adapt and change. You have to take the lessons and influences that you experience and change the way you perform your art. If you never adapt, someone else will come around and be better. Some people are content with staying at the bottom of the pack. If that is you, just do what is comfortable and easy. If you want to constantly improve yourself: adapt. Change as obstacles come your way. Be better today than you were yesterday.
The last point is that you need to stay focused on why you do what you do. Ed toured pretty much non-stop for years and essentially gave us all of his time. Not to quote, but I saw in an interview and that he, in a way, was losing the vision of why he was doing what he did. He did exactly what we should all do: he took a step back, got his priorities in order, and got back in the game. Now I know that all of us most likely cannot take a year of our lives off to regroup, but we can all take a step back when we lose focus. If you are getting up everyday and dreading your life for that day, stop and figure out where things went wrong. Life is too short to be miserable all of the time. It has been said that we should strive to constantly be the best at what we do, but make sure the reasons for this desire are the right ones. If they aren’t, stop, adjust, and go again.
There are more traits that we could use, but I think that if you were to summarize the keys to success, these would be at the top. Sheeran did not become the most talented person on the planet by practicing part of the time, working when he felt like it, and just doing enough to get by. He strives for excellence, works endlessly, and makes sure that what he has done is what he is proud of. If we take these qualities and adapt them to our lives, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
C.Long
