Ed Sheeran has given us yet another reason to fall in love with him with his new single “Castle on the Hill.” The wistful, nostalgic track dropped today, Jan. 6 and hails from Sheeran’s highly-anticipated third studio album, presumably titled ÷ (Divide).
First off, the format of the lyric video is really captivating and has impressively garnered over 750,000 views on YouTube since it was posted late yesterday. Cartoon elements matching the story morph into animated view against the blue background he has teased us with since late last month.
Sheeran immediately grabs our hearts as he takes us all back to the time when he was six years old and broke his leg while running from his brother and his friends. We can almost smell "the sweet perfume of the mountain grass” of the hill he rolled down before he introduces the infectious hook for the first time: “I was younger then/Take me back to when." He proves his storytelling prowess as he paints a vivid picture of his life growing up back home watching the sunset “over the castle on the hill.”
Last December, the Grammy-winning singer took a year off from social media to spend some time with family and friends, travel, and write his third album which he described as “the best thing I have made thus far.” So far, it sounds like he's definitely living up to his promise.
He's pulled toward home (and we follow him there) as he sings, “I found my heart and broke it here/Made friends and lost them through the years/And I’ve not seen the roaring fields in so long/I know I’ve grown/I can’t wait to go home.”
Living life as one of the biggest pop stars on the planet has a ton of advantages. But, fame often carries a heavy price – one of which is being forced to leave home and your roots far behind for long periods of time. Sheeran gives us a keen sense of how much has changed in his own life and the lives of the friends he grew up with in this song.
“One friend left to sell clothes/One works down by the coast/One had two kids/But lives alone/One’s brother overdosed/One’s already on his second wife/One’s just barely getting by/But these people raised me/And I can’t wait to go home.”
Sheeran, himself, is 25 and has already established himself as one of the best singer-songwriters of his generation. He has uber-famous, iconic friends now including Taylor Swift, Pharrell and Sir Elton John. In fact, he pays sweet homage to the latter by singing “I’m on my way/Driving at 90/Down those country lanes/Singing to Tiny Dancer.”
Overall, Sheeran tells us no matter how rich and famous he is, he’ll always be tied to the people and places that formed him and directly or indirectly shaped who he is today. On a larger scale, Sheeran sings of childhood innocence and he gives all of us reason to pause and look back and reflect on where we’re from, where we’ve been and how we too, have evolved into who we are.
In all, our hearts are bubbling over in musically-induced bliss with this track. “Castle on the Hill” is the first of two singles he dropped today. The other one is an up-tempo track about meeting the perfect lady in a bar called “Shape of You.” If these tracks give any indication of what follows, Ed Sheeran's new album is bound to be epic.
Both singles are available for download and streaming on multiple digital platforms including iTunes and Spotify. Keep up to date on Ed Sheeran here at AXS.
