Ed Sheeran research - Task 2

Ed Sheeran  is an English singer, songwriter, and producer. Born in Halifax, before moving to Framingham, he learned to play guitar and started writing songs at a young age. He began recording in 2005 and moved to London in 2008 to pursue a music career. In 2009, inspired by James Morrison, he played 312 gigs. In early 2011, he released his eighth independent extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project; with it, Sheeran gained mainstream attention. Three months later, Sheeran was signed to Asylum/ Atlantic Records.

Ed Sheeran can be described as an indie rock/acoustic artist. he potrays an image that he is no different to the people who listen to his music. he wears very basic clothing, typically jeans and a t-shirt. in his video's he is represented as a normal person with normal problems. he has also been shown to be a good and charitable person in the video for 'A Team'. 
his concerts are always very basic, he only ever has him playing his guitar and making music on a loop pedal. they are usually very intimate gigs where he interacts and connects a lot with his audience. 

these are two examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ

The music video for Ed Sheeran’s The A Team follows the story of a young prostitute living in London. The fact the video creates a story is very attracting for an audience. it builds anticipation, and curiosity as to what is going to happen to the character created. It has the same effect as a trailer of a movie.

Ed Sheeran can be described as an indie rock/acoustic artist. This song is more of an acoustic song and features just his voice and just his guitar. This allows him to portray an image of reality, and that all the music he makes is from him, and not produced on a computer.  He also shows this by barely featuring in the video. By doing this he makes the video all about the music and the story it creates.

The lyrics relate to the struggles of a young prostitute, this may not be something many viewers can relate to personally but the general struggle of life with little money, drugs, poverty and trying to put food on the table are all things viewers can relate too. The target audience of the audience is a young one, from around 16-25. This is mainly because his songs and videos relate to issues of young people, young love, heart break, loss, unemployment to name a few.

The artist himself is only in the video for about 10 seconds, and he is seen giving money to the homeless girl and giving her some company. This allows him to come across as very charitable and to be shown as a good person.

The rest of the video follows the girl’s story to the end. I think the way in which the girl’s story pulls the audience in is the reason it is a successful video.