ANALYSING BRAND CONSISTENCY

TOUR POSTER/MAGAZINE COVER

CD COVER

MUSIC VIDEO

ANALYSISEd Sheeran is a world renowned artist whom started his career in the suburbs of London. Ed Sheeran uses very consistent techniques throughout both his image and his art which is music. He promotes the issues of real life situations amongst normal people, varying from homelessness to heartbreak. Ed Sheeran is widely known for using techniques that emphasise him and what he stands for, you barely see him feature in his music videos which adds mystery and humbleness to the artist. Through the use of these techniques Ed Sheeran promotes himself as a normal person and sways away from the image of a celebrity, the artist is not scared to show a true representation of himself and is proud of his ginger hair.

The first consistency associated with the artist Ed Sheeran is that he dismisses the ‘celebrity lifestyle’ and in turn promotes himself as an average human being. Through this he is able to connect with his audience because they feel like they relate to the artist, which in turn creates the illusion that the audience are actually living through the artist’s music and hold the same ideologies he may hold. He does this through various techniques in his music videos, firstly, in most of Ed Sheerans videos, he is not a key part of the music video. In the song A-Team, Ed Sheeran briefly features in the video when he is purchasing a magazine from the homeless lady. As he approaches the main character he is blended in with the crowd and then appears to purchase a magazine, this promotes the artist as average and also humble. Average in terms of he is part of the crowd, he is no different to everyone else regardless of his huge success. Furthermore, we also see a consistency of the artist being shy; this can be associated with his humbleness as an artist. An example of this is on his tour poster, on the tour poster he is seen to be looking down at the ground while smiling, this is associated with shyness and suggests that the artist is very flattered by all of the sold out upcoming shows he will perform at. This further promotes the fact that he presents himself as a normal working class person, he dismisses all of the stereotypes regarding celebrities such as confidence and seriousness. Another way in which the artist Ed Sheeran portrays himself as not a celebrity is that in his most famous album ‘+’ his face blends with the cover. Ed Sheeran has red messy hair which blends in with the orange album cover and also promotes the fact that he is not perfect. Celebrities are very commonly associated with a perfect image, crisp haircuts and expensive outfits. However, Ed Sheeran is not associated with the material things and indulges himself in his music, which seems to bring upon a big connection between the artist and his fans.

Another common consistency associated with the artist is the colouring in both his album covers and music videos. The first technique he uses is shown in almost every music video of his, this is the effect of time slowing down for the main character, which is usually in a bright vibrant colour, whereas the world around him moves extremely fast in a greyscale colour. He does this to focus on a particular person. For example in his music video A-team, the camera constantly focuses on the main character (a homeless female, who is addicted to drugs), throughout the music video the world around the homeless character is moving while she remains seated, the bland colouring promotes the emotion in Ed Sheerans music videos. This emotion brings upon the message that the artist is trying to promote, the artist promotes a negative/gloomy atmosphere in his music videos, which suggests that the artist feels this type of way. This further brings upon a connection between the artist and his fans, because he promotes relatable situations or feel of emotions. The way in which Ed Sheeran presents the stories are commonly through a greyscale/ very dark coloured music video, the use of the black and white effect emphasises that the story is serious and is meant to be taken seriously. The use of no full range of colours further associates with the common consistency with the artist Ed Sheeran, which could also suggest that the artist doesn’t associated himself with the celebrity lifestyle and likes to promote his true self with the use of bland colours in his music videos, without the use of fancy cars, jewellery and the degrading of women.

The final way in which Ed Sheeran has a common consistency amongst his music, videos and image is the way his songs are commonly about stories of other people’s lives. The song A-Team promotes a homeless lady and her struggles with drugs, and the fact that she is willing to sell her body for small amounts of money to feed her drug habit. Whereas the song Give Me Love promotes a lady who is essentially cupid the angel. This common consistency is widely accepted by Ed Sheerans fans because many of them relate to the stories being presented in the way Ed Sheeran presents them. Although a song like Give Me Love would seem very fantasy driven the audience feel associated with the message given in the song. The song essentially promotes the fact that everyone looks for love and it is human nature to want to be loved, the main character in the video is played as cupid but in the end craves the love she has given to random people within the video. This pulls the heartstrings of the audience which is also a common consistency with Ed Sheeran and his music videos. Furthermore, the use of promoting real life problems suggests that the artist Ed Sheeran is determined to help people who are facing these problems in the real world, for example as stated before the homeless lady in Ed Sheerans music video A-Team is facing a real world problem and the artist has a common consistency of creating a well set out narrative within his music videos, which include one main character and promotes them as a normal person, through an imperfect image; unlike many other celebrities. The main characters always have a problem, which doesn’t resolve at the end, this is a common consistency amongst Ed Sheeran because he promotes a real life, true representation of real life issues.

In conclusion, Ed Sheeran promotes many common consistencies amongst his image and the way he promotes his music. Consistencies which include the colouring of his music videos, the humbleness of the artist and the way in which he promotes serious, real life issues. On top of his very catchy, admirable music Ed Sheeran doesn’t associate himself as a celebrity, but rather a mere average person. The common consistencies promote a true representation of his life and his objectives; which are to educate people through his music about real life issues.