did ed sheeran take risks with his latest singles or play it safe?

Very very risky.

Shape Of You is literally the safest song he could release. It sounds like Cheap Thrills/The Greatest mashup.

Neither song sounds like something he's done before (and had success with before) so it can't be anything but risky.

I could understand the "safe" comments if he'd just rehashed Thinking Out Loud like Bruno rehashed Uptown Funk with 24K Magic, but Ed continued to explore new styles. That's a risk.

But of course ATRL hates him because he's a) a man and b) not a tanned, thique brunette with a new shirtless photoshoot every other Wednesday.

Super safe.

yup it was that obvious. You can tell by the intro it is a cheap thrills copy.

Honestly I think it was a risk to release Shape of You because people might think it's too generic.

It's so safe it's risky.

Or it's so safe it's risky.

depends if you think releasing most generic song in recent memory is ~risky

it can't go safer

Safe, but that's not a bad thing.

Riskiest thing done in the music industry these past few decades.

Jumping on the tropical house trend = safe

Safe. As always

safe. as always

My exact thoughts.

Risky because he hasn't achieved with uptempo songs like Shape Of You,but safe because it's basically a mashup of two recent hit singles

safe. as always

Not with that name on your sig

Doesn't get any safer than that.

Mess only ATRL would call Ed risky with his new release over Bruno, what is so risky about Ed's new records, they would fit perfectly in his last album whereas Bruno has been changing his style of music ever since his debut album. What you hear in 24K the album isn't what you hear when you listen to UJ.

Just because he kept funk and the groove alive, then he's boring. He only did UF and 24k that are completely funk songs and he's called safe. At least bruno doesn't follow trends, he makes his own, can't say the same about Ed with his sia's copy cat record & coldplay's leftovers.