Ed Sheeran Music Video Research

Ed Sheeran, is notably known for not having a main role in his music videos but instead usually has a small cameo. Sheeran stated that music videos should revolve around the song not the artists. Due him not featuring in his music videos it allows him to make the narrative the main focus. 

The A Team

 It narrates the story of a girl addicted to drugs, living on the streets of London, played by Selina MacDonald. She tried to sell magazines for money, but only managed to sell one to Sheeran. The girl struggled so much that she resorted to selling her body to earn money. She may not have loved it, but it provided her with a general income. Later on, the pain became too much for her to bear and she just wanted to end it all. She traded in her "dirty" money for drugs, referencing the lyric "...and in a pipe she flies to the motherland." In the end, the girl succumbs to her drug abuse.

Lego House

The video's narrative at first portrays Rupert Grint as Sheeran, performing such activities as writing lyrics for the song on a pad of paper, lounging in his tour bus, and ultimately taking the stage for a cheering crowd. However, after Grint takes the stage and is immediately tackled by security, it is slowly revealed that Grint is actually stalking Sheeran and is an obsessive fan, and that the events of the video were actually him stalking the real Ed Sheeran with increasing severity and mental instability (writing the song was actually transcribing the lyrics from the album cover, and lounging in the bus was him breaking into it), ending with Sheeran and Grint meeting as Grint is forcibly removed from a music venue and Sheeran comes out of a lift.

Give Me Love.

The girl has always had these preconceived notions of love; she understands it and is capable of it but no one will love her back. She is someone so full of love, but has no one to love her back. So she sets out to find it. She starts to literally build and create the kind of person she wants to love and when that’s not enough she goes out looking for it wherever she can find it. She becomes a cupid of some sort shooting down anyone before she even knows if they’re capable of loving her back. But her attempts fail, making her feel worse because everyone around seems to be finding the one thing she’s looking for without trying. She’s down and desperate, finding anyone and anything that can give her the “high” of love, turning to the grimy night time scene, where she “shoots” (stabs) everything. When all her attempts fail she is broken, done with finding love, it kills her she shoots herself believing that she’ll be by herself forever. But when she least expects it- Love finds her, literally awakens her and opens her eyes. Her true love comes in to take a closer look at the crime scene.

Don't

This music videos shows the rags-to-riches of an aspiring dancer. The video begins by showing the dancer sleeping on a mattress in an abandoned lot. Although, he only owns a pair of dusty, old shoes on his feet, he gracefully dances his way to clean clothes and riches. This is a representation of Ed Sheeran's life, despite the sad lyrics, Sheeran was homeless but managed to make it in the music industry but has still stayed the same. The majority of this video is all one shot and has minimal editing, this allows the video to look fresh and unique. Making the song seem happier than it is.