Ed Sheeran’s latest album, X, or Multiply, has gotten fans riled up with his second batch of songs. Many of the songs played could easily become hits on the chart, proven by the album’s popularity.

The album begins with the gentle song “One”, a tale of a man who wants a woman to stay with him despite her plans of her future. Each line smoothly spills into the next with almost nothing more than a guitar to accompany his voice. At one point, he holds out a note for 17 seconds without his voice wavering.

Following “One” comes “I’m a Mess”, a lively song about a couple simply going through the motions. Sheeran’s voice is deeper than the previous track, which causes a bigger display of his range. You get an intense vibe coming through the fast beat and firm strum of the guitar which creates the sense of a stronger song.

Next comes a unique song that starts off with an electric guitar rather than the acoustic, Sheeran’s main accompaniment. “Sing” was previously released as a single, which to this date has been his best-selling song. Sheeran channels a Justin Timberlake style to talk about a love interest in a club.

After the club comes a prison with “Don’t”. The song starts off with a cord of voices, following a guitar, which is often used in jail movies. While there is no mention of an actual prison, he sings of a lover who did nothing, but burn him although he still has feelings for her. This creates a prison of Sheeran’s own mind. He showed that he was not afraid to speak his mind through his swearing and seething blunt statements.

Although Sheeran almost always leaves out names for privacy sake, “Nina” obviously does not follow suit. With the song being about his past celebrity girlfriend, Nina Nesbitt, and why she should leave him. Many people were shocked that he’d write a song like that. However, the song does list justifiable reasons such as Sheeran being constantly gone.

Pulling a style from his first album, “Photograph” is a song about love interest. Sheeran wants his lover to remember through a photo in her necklace, close to her heart. The song remains true to Sheeran’s style by having a very simplistic background consisting of the guitar. He uses a gentler voice than used in most songs as he reminisces about his past love.

However, that song is considered positively bright after listening to his next song, “Bloodstream”. The song features a light background that could be considered happy, however the lyrics are slightly disturbing as he talks about chemicals entering his bloodstream as he approaches the end due to a broken heart. He asks when he’d become so faded, and to tell him when the chemicals kick in as if he couldn’t feel at all.

Sheeran balances out the previous song with “Tenerife Sea” about pure love with no hesitancy. After all the previous songs being about tentative relationships and uncertainty, hearing Sheeran chant “so in love” uplifts many hearts. His love for his partner is clearly evident as he makes sure she knows all about his love for her by complimenting her looks, both inside and out.

Turning the tides, Sheeran talks about something besides his love life: him running away from his father. Despite what could be a sad subject, Sheeran turns it happy with a faster beat and with no hard feelings being passed between him and his dad.

Sheeran takes his music to a different genre as “The Man” begins with a hip-hop beat and a lengthy rap. It tells the tale of his lover leaving him after an affair on the woman’s part. Sheeran’s statement of “I’m just disgusted with the skeletons you sleep with in your closet” shows his feeling of betrayal.

“Thinking Out Loud” lightens the mood up as Sheeran talks about his devotion to a woman. His vocal talent shines through in this song through his runs. His loyalty to this woman is very easily told through him talking about their futures together when they are too old to even walk properly.

“Afire Love” starts out with a dramatic sound created by violins and the piano. Telling of his relationship with his grandfather whom he rarely knew, Sheeran’s regret over not knowing him clearly shows with his words like “our hearts will beat as one.” The reason for this is because his grandfather shared his love for music.

After all these wonderful songs played, the album took a turn for the worse with “Take It Back.” The starting rap sounds like you could easily find it in the streets that include bad rhymes and cheesy lyrics. Although the song is not top-notch, you can see his sincerity put in the song.

On the road to redemption, “Shirtsleeves” starts to help with a hip-hop like beat about protecting a girl from her tears. Despite the predictability, it was easy to follow along to and was a few steps up from the previous track.

Next comes “Even My Dad Does Sometimes”, a song that was about a cancer patient. The song can easily be a tear-jerker to many, whether it be because of the song alone or because of the relatability. However, the one catch that not many would see is how the first few lines contradict two other songs of the album.

When he says even his dad cries, it slightly lessens the song “Runaway” when he says he has never seen his dad cry. When he says to not wipe your tears, he contradicts the song that he just sang, “Shirtsleeves”, which is all about wiping someone’s tears away. Although it is not demeaning any song, per say, the inconsistency in the songs makes others question what he truly thinks. However, it must be taken into account that there was another songwriter involved in this song.

To wrap up the album, Sheeran parts with “I See Fire.”  Though it can be emotion invoking, Hobbit fans will quickly catch on the the similarities in the movie to the last song. Sheeran wrote it right after he saw the second movie in the Hobbit trilogy.

It starts a capella, with Sheeran proving his range once again. Then comes the guitar with a slow melody.

Sheeran’s second album was a huge success with it quickly becoming the most sold album of the year so far, for good reason. His ear candy was evident throughout his songs, leaving fans only wanting more.