When artists develop over time the range of the topics they handle in songs usually grows more broad. Ed Sheeran has always been an artist who didn't shy away from sad topics and topics that would be seen by many in the pop scene as taboo. The A Team is one of the best songs on the album, with the fact that, lyrically, some may see it as one of the best songs he has ever written. Like plenty of other songs on the album, he doesn't just let the lyrics carry the song. The track also showcases just how good of a singer Ed Sheeran is. The vocals have just the right amount of airiness to make the song's higher tone sound incredible with the slower cords of the guitar. The lyrics that are praised so much discuss a life lived in the lower class and how these people seem to have it all and are a part of "the a-team" despite being under the upper hand. The song delves into having to do work we don't want to do just to keep on living and the addiction many people that are in lower classes suffer from to find happiness. The song is just plain great and definitely the best on the album.

With as high praise as I have for The A Team, I can't say the same for other tracks that are on the album. Most of the album is filled with great and memorable songs that have some great lyrical talent shown in them. The City, for me, is not one of those songs. The track starts off on a weird note for me as it has beatboxing that contrasts with the electrical guitar line, which was definitely a unique way to start the song. What makes the song weirder is just how jarring it is, it's the first song on the album to have this start. The other tracks start with the album's signature acoustic sound, which makes it stand out instantly from the others, but not in a good way. Lyrically, the song is also different as it is about Sheeran's personal experience of moving to London at 16. Sheeran writes about how much this time had affected his life at the time. He states he would perform in the streets for people as he tried to fight against being homeless, which he was for the first three years. The song feels not only weird with the beatboxing, but it also does the tone worse than other songs like You Need Me, I Don't Need You, leaving the song feeling bland. It's for that reason the song is the worst on the album to me.