The A Team

One of my favorite songs to listen to before falling asleep is The A Team by Ed Sheeran. At first I only listened to it because it had such a nice melody and made me want to close my eyes and sleep. However, once I started to actually listen to the lyrics, I realized that it was actually a really sad song about a girl addicted to drugs. Now, this song makes me extremely sad, but has a really powerful message all the same.

The song describes a girl who does anything to gain some money to spend on drugs, whether it being selling magazines or selling her body.

I love that this seems upbeat. If you listen to the instrumental, you think that this song is actually really happy and joyful. In reality, though it is a very dark and sad song. It's really neat how Ed Sheeran combined a bright melody with dark lyrics, and I respect his musical capabilities for that. In an interview, Ed Sheeran is asked about his song "The A Team" and what it's really about. He tells them the basics and also mentions that the reason why he wrote the part "and they say, she's in the class A team" is because Class A is composed of a group of drugs such as cocaine and heroin. He uses euphemism to make the song seem less dark. Class A doesn't sound as bad as cocaine or heroin. Just imagine if he actually put the real words into the song... "and they say, she's in the cocaine team." I don't know if I'd want to listen to that song anymore.

Before, this song used to make me want to smile, but now I want to cry every time I hear it. It is such a powerful song, and this song makes me feel like I have some access to the mind of one addicted to drugs and the struggles they face. It makes me think about all the people who are addicted, and I've stopped being so judgemental towards those that I see around me that are addicted. Thanks to Ed Sheeran, I can understand a little bit better why these people do what they do. I can understand their stories a little bit better.