“Shape of You” is a song from English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. Sheeran is an extremely talented musician, and I’ve greatly appreciated the artistry of some of his other songs, so it’s a pleasure to review this one. It was released as a digital download on 6 January 2017 as one of the double lead singles from his third studio album “÷ “(2017), together with “Castle on the Hill”.

“Shape of You” peaked at number-one on the singles charts of 30 differen countries, including the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as the UK, Australian and Canadian singles charts. It has stayed at number one for 16 consecutive weeks on the Canadian Hot 100 , and 14 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and 12 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It is currently the second most streamed song on Spotify, and one of only three songs with over 1 billion streams on this site. ‘Shape Of You’ is perhaps the least revolutionary of the pair, but it is the most “Ed Sheeran”. After the long, heartbreaking absence of new music, his return to form is what successes.

“Shape Of You” taps into the success of Sheeran’s last singles, twisting them together to form the perfect comeback and reminding listeners just why Sheeran is the King of Music. The song presents the sweet seductive vocals that he has become so iconic for, then twists euphoric lapses into rap, creating a slightly odd yet successful sound that pulls together ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.’ Newly injected are tropical looped beats, reminiscent of a Sia offering, which give the song enough new flair to make this a comeback that not only signals a return to form, but a nod to the future.

“Shape of You” is unique mostly because of its island style beat and instrumentation. The lyrics seem unique for Ed Sheeran songs. They’re largely about sex and falling in love with a woman’s body although many of his songs seem a bit sadder and less sugary. But that’s all right, this song’s meaning can be a good thing anyway.

It’s difficult and unwise to draw something too deep from “Shape of You.” There aren’t enough details to understand relationships better with, and the song is only describing the fun parts of the relationship. Sure there may be ups and downs, but it’ll be interesting to see if a relatoinship like this one shows up in another song on Sheeran’s upcoming album “Divide.”