King of all things relevant Ed Sheeran would probably shut down the Exclaim! office if it were up to him. The acclaimed artist has voiced his opinion on music critics, saying there's no room for them in the streaming era.
Speaking with infamous critics Rolling Stone, the singer-songwriter posited, "Why do you need to read a review? Listen to it. It's freely available! Make up your own mind. I would never read an album review and go, 'I'm not gonna listen to that now.'"
Though this musing sounds like it was inspired by reading through his Album of the Year overall score, Sheeran's comments have, of course, made their way to music journalism Twitter, with critics and music fans alike panning him for the take. Ironic, isn't it?
"Bad take. If you don't like or care about music that much, sure, treat it like soda flavours — everyone has different tastes/preferences," one Twitter user wrote. "But a lot of great music requires — or at least benefits from — added context/analysis from someone [with] a deeper understanding of the scene, etc."
Speaking with infamous critics Rolling Stone, the singer-songwriter posited, "Why do you need to read a review? Listen to it. It's freely available! Make up your own mind. I would never read an album review and go, 'I'm not gonna listen to that now.'"
Though this musing sounds like it was inspired by reading through his Album of the Year overall score, Sheeran's comments have, of course, made their way to music journalism Twitter, with critics and music fans alike panning him for the take. Ironic, isn't it?
"Bad take. If you don't like or care about music that much, sure, treat it like soda flavours — everyone has different tastes/preferences," one Twitter user wrote. "But a lot of great music requires — or at least benefits from — added context/analysis from someone [with] a deeper understanding of the scene, etc."
While saying music criticism has less impact than it did 20 years ago, Cadence Weapon echoed the same points on cultural context in music: "Music journalism is more than just reviews. Writing about music adds much-needed context and meaning to what we listen to."
Of course, some good old-fashioned roasting was also added into the mix. "I mean if I made sensitacho tween anthems and bland af slumber party music that I took very seriously and also regularily released to the public I would be eager to discredit the role of music critics too," another person tweeted.
While Exclaim! has never reviewed one of Sheeran's albums, we did have a few choice words about his SNL performance. Considering he got bullied off Twitter a long time ago, Sheeran will never get to see the discourse his cold take sparked.