Thinking Out Loud
"Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran recorded for his second studio album, × (2014). It was written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the US on 24 September 2014 as the album's third single.
For other uses, see Thinking Out Loud (disambiguation)."Thinking Out Loud"
"I'm a Mess" (Live from Lightship 95)
24 September 2014
February 2014
- 4:41 (album version)
- 3:50 (radio edit)
- Ed Sheeran
- Amy Wadge
In the UK, the song spent 19 weeks within the top 40 before peaking at number one in early November 2014; it became Sheeran's second number-one single there. The single has also reached the top spot in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia and South Africa, and peaked at number two on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian Hot 100. It was Sheeran's highest-charting single in North America until "Shape of You" topped the charts in both countries in 2017.
In June 2015, "Thinking Out Loud" became the first single to spend a full year in the UK top 40. In September 2015, it also became the seventh single to have achieved triple platinum certification in the UK during the 21st century. In October 2015, the song became the first to be streamed over 500 million times on Spotify, is also one of the most streamed songs in the UK and has been viewed more than 3.4 billion times on YouTube as of April 2022.[3]
"Thinking Out Loud" received nominations for Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards, winning the latter two.[4]
Release[edit]
Prior to the album release, Sheeran debuted "Thinking Out Loud" on 24 May 2014 by performing it live on the British music television show, Later... with Jools Holland. The debut followed the release of the video accompaniment to "Sing", the album's lead single. "Thinking Out Loud" was immediately perceived as having contrast to "Sing", which is a "high-energy funk/R&B-infused song".[15][23] "Thinking Out Loud" became available on 18 June 2014 as an "instant grat" download for consumers who pre-ordered × on the iTunes Store. It served as a promotional single from ×, which was released two days later. On the standard version of the album, "Thinking Out Loud" is the next-to-last track,[8] the last being "Afire Love".
"Thinking Out Loud" was initially serviced to Australian radio on 14 August 2014 and later released on 24 September 2014. It served as the third of five singles released from the album; it followed the songs, "Sing" and "Don't", the first and second single respectively. According to Sheeran, no one from his record label wanted to release "Thinking Out Loud" as a single, favouring over "Photograph" as the "big song".[12] "Photograph" was supposed to be the main single, but when "Thinking Out Loud" spent several weeks within the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart albeit not receiving rotation,[24] the latter song was kept as the third single. "Photograph" was later released as the fifth and final single. "Thinking Out Loud" was issued on 7" vinyl exclusively as part of the Black Friday Record Store Day, which was celebrated on 28 November 2014.[25] The vinyl record included, as a B-side, the live version of "I'm A Mess" which Sheeran performed at the Lightship 95 studio.[26] On 26 December 2015, Sheeran released an Irish-language version of "Thinking Out Loud" for the Irish album CEOL 2016.[27]
Critical reception[edit]
Lauren Murphy of The Irish Times noted that the "injection of blue-eyed soul" on the song is "enjoyable", and that it "makes Sheeran's aptitude for melody difficult to dismiss".[28] Jim Beviglia of the American Songwriter thought that although "tidy", "Thinking Out Loud" comes "toothless" compared with the "daring confessionals" Sheeran made on the other songs.[29]
The Washington Post writer, Allison Stewart, has hailed the song as "a blatant and mercilessly effective bid for 'I'll Be'-style wedding-song immortality".[30] Billboard magazine's Jason Lipshutz, commented that Sheeran "pushes this bold stab at romance past its sappiest moments, and ends the album on a likable note".[22] Jamieson Cox of Time wrote that "the album’s greatest moment by a country mile is relegated to its penultimate slot", referring to "Thinking Out Loud".[31]
Live performances[edit]
On 26 October 2014, Sheeran performed the song on third live results show of series 11 of The X Factor.[55] He also performed it on 9 November 2014 in the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards.[56] Sheeran also performed the song as a special guest at The Voice's live finale on 16 December 2014. Furthermore, Sheeran performed the track on the Christmas Special of The Jonathan Ross Show on 20 December 2014. He also performed the song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards on 8 February 2015 along with John Mayer, Questlove, Adam Blackstone, and Herbie Hancock.[57] Sheeran performed "Thinking Out Loud" on 13 April 2015 results show of the second series of The X Factor in New Zealand.[58] Sheeran also performed "Thinking Out Loud" at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2014.[59]
Parodies and usage in media[edit]
On 28 April 2015 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, actor Jeremy Renner, known for his role as Hawkeye in the Avengers movies, performed on piano and sang a song captioned by Fallon's show on YouTube as "Hawkeye Sings About His Super Powers". While not parodying Sheeran's lyrics, it is sung to the same tune. The lyrics suggest that Hawkeye feels defensive compared with the other Avengers as he was the only mortally human one in a team of superhuman or enhanced heroes: "But listen, I've got powers too; they're pretty sweet. / I promise I can do so much more than just archery ... / I can open a pickle jar. / I'm friggin' Hawkeye. / Maybe I'm as super as they are."[60]
The song and video were also parodied in the CW series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Titled "Let's Have Intercourse", the song was sung by Scott Michael Foster with Rachel Bloom appearing in the scene dancing with Foster in the same manner as Sheeran and Cherry. The lyrics are an appeal by Foster's character, Nathaniel Plimpton III, to series protagonist Rebecca Bunch (Bloom) to have sex whilst trapped in an elevator.[61] The song was featured in the 2016 film Me Before You. It was also covered in the film Bridget Jones's Baby. This song was also used during a 25 December 2017 Christmas NBA Game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors during the 2017–18 NBA season.
Credits adapted from the album liner notes:[72]