Billboard positions 14 through 16 are repeats: in order, ‘Rude‘ by MAGIC!, Sia’s ‘Chandelier‘ and Charli XCX’s ‘Boom Clap.’
At #17 is Ed Sheeran with ‘Don’t.’ Sheeran last reached the top 20 with the supremely catchy ‘Sing,’ which peaked at the 13th position. Will this song be able to top that one and perhaps advance into the top ten?
Sheeran is taking a cue from his pal Taylor Swift with this song, dishing about an ex who wronged him. Conventional wisdom says the woman in question is Ellie Goulding, who allegedly cheated on Sheeran with Niall Horan of One Direction.
At least that’s what I heard from my best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend who heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Ed Sheeran pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.
Name that movie!
I met this girl late last year
She said “don’t you worry if I disappear”
I told her “I’m not really looking for another mistake”
I called an old friend thinking that the trouble would wait
But then I jumped right in a week later, returned
I reckon she was only looking for a lover to burn
But I gave her my time for two or three nights
Then I put it on pause until the moment was right
I went away for months until our paths crossed again
She told me “I was never looking for a friend
Maybe you could swing by my room around ten
Baby, bring the lemon and a bottle of gin
We’ll be in between the sheets till the late AM”
Baby, if you wanted me then should have just said, she’s singing
[Hook]
Don’t fuck with my love
That heart is so cold
All over my arm
I don’t wanna know that babe
Don’t fuck with my love
I told her she knows
Take aim and reload
I don’t wanna know that babe
[Verse 2]
And for a couple weeks I only wanna see her
We drink away the days with a takeaway pizza
Before a text message was the only way to reach her
Now she’s staying at my place and loves the way I treat her
Singing out Aretha, all over the track like a feature
And never wants to sleep, I guess that I don’t want to either
But me and her, we make money the same way
Four cities, two planes, the same day
And those shows have never been what it’s about
But maybe we’ll go together and just figure it out
I’d rather put on a film with you and sit on a couch
But we should get on a plane or we’ll be missing it now
Wish I’d have written it down, the way that things played out
When she was kissing him, how I was confused about
Now she should figure it out, while I’m sat here singing
[Hook]
[Verse 3]
(Knock knock knock) on my hotel door
I don’t even know if she knows what for
She was crying on my shoulder, I already told ya
Trust and respect is what we do this for
I never intended to be next
But you didn’t need to take him to bed, that’s all
And I never saw him as a threat
Until you disappeared with him to have sex, of course
It’s not like we were both on tour
We were staying on the same fucking hotel floor
And I wasn’t looking for a promise or commitment
But it was never just fun, and I thought you were different
This is not the way you realised what you wanted
It’s a bit too much, too late if I’m honest
And all this time, God knows I’m singing
[Hook x2]
Meet Me In Montauk 
Ferris Bueler, but I cheated. 😄
He essentially admitted that Goulding was the object of the song during an interview with Howard Stern. Meanwhile, I love this song and, as I’m sure you will concede, it’s about as far away from “A Team” as it gets while still staying in the general acoustic pop arena.
Go Ed Sheeran! 🙂
Really big fan of this song and album. I also think that an interesting double standard is being revealed in the way Sheeran hasn’t been getting the same amount of criticism that his good friend Taylor Swift gets for writing about ex relationships. Both make some really awesome songs out of heart break though.
I don’t disagree that a double standard exists, but it’s not really fair to compare reactions to Taylor Swift vs. Ed Sheeran. The former is one of the biggest stars on the planet and the latter could walk into any local Starbucks without anybody noticing!
Well, I think at this point you are understating Ed’s popularity. Certainly, there are few on the planet as popular and known as Swift, but Ed has become fairly known and popular–maybe more on the level of a Sam Smith than Adam Levine, but still…
More to the point, while Maddie was being a bit diplomatic, I think the double standard to which she is referencing is being employed not just by any Joe sitting at a Starbucks, but by you, my friend.
You know both Swift and Ed’s music, though you probably are more familiar with Swift’s music on the whole. I think it is a fair point that the subject matter of a female singer/songwriter’s songs, when she chooses to focus on autobiographical material, relationships, etc., is a bit more harshly scrutinized and criticized than the material of a male singer/songwriter.
You have, on more than one occasion, and over the course of a number of albums, criticized Swift’s musical themes, but I really haven’t seen that type of criticism heaped upon similar male artists. Last time I checked, for example, Adam Levine’s songs are all about relationships–either casual or serious, tawdry or otherwise, but your critique for him is all about the sound, which is decidedly more commercial (and I agree worse for that).
Anyway, I think it is at least worth considering whether there is a double standard, even for you, where you become more irritated with the celebrity/gossip/chatty/dishing of a female artist, but not so much when it is done by a dude. Just sayin…
I’m not familiar enough with Adam Levine’s or Ed Sheeran’s catalogs to say that they write predominantly about any one subject. I do know Swift’s music very well, however.
And my issue with her songs is not so much that they’re about relationships (75% of all songs are, it seems) but that she consistently plays the role of victim.
Is there a male songwriter who does the same? I’m sure there is. But off the top of my head, I can’t think of one I know as well as I know Swift.
Yes, I understand your issue regarding her playing the victim. It’s just that the notion of someone playing the “victim” seems to be more of a concern when the artist is a woman.
As Amy pointed out when we were discussing this over dinner last night, the irony of someone like you and others who are feminists is that it seems more troublesome when a woman exposes her heartbreak or her concern over music critics, etc. then it would if a man were to write about the same thing. For a man who exposes the emotion of being a “victim,” he is seen as admirable for revealing his vulnerable, sensitive, emotional side, but a woman doing that is seen as a victim and that bothers us. It is, as Amy was saying, the paradox of feminism, that extends to criticism of women who, for example, choose to stay at home and raise kids or choose to be overtly sexual or choose to be a fashion model.
And so, getting back to Swift, you are more bothered by her being a “victim” than you would be if a man wrote about similar things because you don’t like the idea of a woman exposing herself in that way. Can you, for example, think of a single male artist who you were bothered by the fact that he wrote about similar topics as heartbreak, critics, haters, etc?
Not off the top,of my head. But I’ll turn the question around on you… can you name a single male artist about whom I SHOULD feel that way?
Or, for that matter, can you name another female artist about whom I DO feel that way? I don’t think it’s a male/female thing… I think it’s a Taylor Swift thing.
Bruno Mars falls into this category a lot, and he was one that Taylor recently called out for it. But actually I would argue that most songs written about heartbreak take this “victim” stance. John Mayer is a good example of this too, and scrolling through a list of male singer/songwriters, their songs about heartbreak are often blaming the girl or describing their suffering.
Maddie makes some good points:) And, to your last statement as to other female artists, the question is not so much whether you have made this criticism as to other females. The question is whether you would be expressing this criticism if Taylor Swift was a man. I don’t think you would.
I’m not familiar enough with Bruno Mars’ music to comment on it one way or the other. The tracks I know are mostly love songs but not victim songs.
Dana, I hate the “if X was Y, you’d behave differently” argument because it’s entirely speculative. If Taylor Swift was a man, she wouldn’t be Taylor Swift. My issue with her is that she is one of the most famous, successful, beloved and lauded artists in the world and yet she continues to write about the people who have wronged her, either romantically or professionally.
I believe if a man was in the same boat, I’d find it equally troubling. And I’d feel the same way about another woman in the same position. But the fact that none of us can come up with decent examples of either tells me that this isn’t some universal issue.
Well, first of all, I think it’s a bit of a cop out to say you aren’t familiar enough with the music of the likes of Bruno Mars or Adam Levine or even Ed Sheeran. I suspect you have a sufficient familiarity with each, certainly their hits and from the albums you do own (for Maroon 5 at least) to make an assessment and, as to each, you have written about their songs on your blog, including today’s song, which is what got this ball rolling.
And as to your comment to Maddie, while you admit that these artists are “guilty” of misogynistic lyrics, I don’t recall you calling them out on it, at least not to the degree that you are so clearly bothered by Swift’s “victim” lyrics. Meanwhile, you may want to consider that, your criticism notwithstanding, Swift’s :”victim” songs are popular, particularly with women and, while I could be wrong, the criticism is coming from men such as yourself, not from women. So, yeah, maybe it’s worth considering before you reflexively and defensively reject it.
It might be a cop out, but it’s nevertheless true. I don’t know the songs of any of those people very well. I just don’t. The only Ed Sheeran songs I have any familiarity with are ‘Sing’ (which could be about Syria, for all I know of the lyrics) and ‘The A Team’ (which I believe is about a prostitute).
I’m familiar enough with Bruno Mars’ and Maroon 5’s hits to know they don’t fit the mold of the sort of songs we’re talking about here. If they have deeper album tracks that do, I’m sorry but I’m just not familiar with them. I can’t be accused of holding a double standard about songs I don’t know. That’s not a cop out, it’s reality.
I think you’re dead wrong about the criticism of Taylor Swift coming from men. My experience has been the opposite.
And, regardless of where it comes from, have you considered the possibility that she deserves it?
I just thought of a male artist who is guilty of the whiny/victim thing… Adam Duritz. I’ve called him out on it, too.
Oh, and to Maddie’s point about men blaming women… I absolutely agree, there is a streak of misogyny in many male songwriters, including some of my very favorites.
Elvis Costello, Lyle Lovett, Ben Folds, Randy Newman — all of these guys have been guilty of it to one degree or another throughout their careers.
I don’t agree with some of this article, but I thought it was timely to point to some examples (even though i’m not sure that they all fit the “victim” role song) http://hellogiggles.com/t-swift-guys-songs-about-relationships/#read
Also I must be somewhat drawn to the emotional value or the “whiny/victim thing” since I hold Swift and Duritz as two of the best songwriters I know 😛
I’m coming late to this party, but I did want to weigh in with a couple of thoughts. It seems to me that it’s a singer songwriter’s bread and butter to write about what happens in his (or her) life. Regardless of whether that person is Billy Joel (An Innocent Man, River of Dreams), Bruce Springsteen (Tunnel of Love), Taylor Swift (Fearless, Speak Now), or Carly Simon (No Secrets), there is going to be speculation regarding who’s gavotting over our dear songwriter’s heart. Truth is, as listeners, we tend to respond to and appreciate the music that is written after a heartbreak. I’m not sure that Springsteen is any more or less the victim in “A Brilliant Disguise” than Swift is in “Dear John,” though both songs reveal the complexities of a relationship. In some cases (“Back to December” for Swift, “Two Faces” for Springsteen), the songwriter is clearly NOT the victim, yet we still respond to the song.
So… my two cents. It shouldn’t matter whether the singer is a man or a woman; what’s important is that the song feels earnest and real. If a particular songwriter has had a bad string of relationships, we’re likely to hear a string of songs about those heartbreaks. Again, as long as each song provides a new and authentic glimpse into those emotions, I look forward to hearing them.
I agree, to a point. All of the people you name write about their own lives, but none of them write exclusively about their own lives — and none of them write about their lives as music stars.
You picked Bruce Springsteen’s one “personal” album, Tunnel Of Love, but left out the dozen or so others he’s written about society, politics, poverty, the nature of evil, the plight of the worker and so on.
Billy Joel and Carly Simon, too, write personal songs as well as character sketches and songs with universal themes.
And I don’t know that any of them have ever written a song about how they are received by critics and other “haters.”
To this point, Swift has almost exclusively written about her own life, and in a very direct way. I think it will benefit her as a songwriter, and increase her chances of being considered one of the greats, if she can explore other territory the way those artists have. I want to hear her ‘Scenes From and Italian Restaurant,’ ‘The Carter Family’ or ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad.’ She’s capable of that.
I completely agree, though I believe that she has written some youthful incarnations of such songs (“Mine,” “Mary’s Song,” “Safe and Sound,” “Speak Now”) even at her young age. The fact that she has been incredibly prolific, stuffing 4 and 5 bonus tracks on each new album, shouldn’t be held against her. If we were to look back at Billy Joel’s catalog at age 26 – or Carly Simon’s or Bruce Springsteen’s, I don’t think you’d find they had written (and recorded) half the number of songs Swift has already produced. Here is a fan produced video for “Mary’s Song,” a song she wrote at 16, when inspired by her next door neighbors who had been married “forever.” Now, this is no “The Carter Family,” but it might be similar to Carly Simon’s 16 year old version of that great song.
Sweet song. And those are some damn good production values for a fan-produced video!
I think you’ve hit on a key point regarding Swift, which is her age. The fact that she achieved such a high degree of fame so young probably isn’t the best thing for her, artistically.
The Bruce Springsteens and Billy Joels of the world had to pay their dues, falling in and out of failed bands, playing gigs in shitty bars to pay the rent. Those experiences no doubt brought a depth to their early work that Swift can’t match (yet).
Instead, having so much success so early puts pressure on her to make the next album even bigger than the last one. I suspect that’s why she’s teaming up with Max Martin — a proven hit-maker — in recent years.
While I’m sure Swift’s next album will be a huge hit, and full of infectious songs that can’t escape your brain or the airwaves, I don’t think it will be very deep, or show that she’s evolved as a songwriter. I hope I’m wrong.
I want to hear the Taylor Swift album that alienates half of her fan base because it’s dark and risky and the melodies take five listens to fully reveal themselves.
🙂 My first listen of “Shake It Off” had me thinking she was about to alienate half her fan base, but, like “We’re Never Getting Back Together” (or whatever the heck it’s called), it, too, eventually pulls you in… no matter how resistant you (yes, I 😉 intend to be.
I, too, am eager to hear how Swift evolves over the years, and I assume she will evolve, as anyone with her inherent talent can only grow as an artist.