Autumn Variations is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It was released on 29 September 2023 through his record label, Gingerbread Man Records. All tracks on the album were solely produced by Aaron Dessner, except the track "Spring", which was produced by Dessner together with his twin brother Bryce. The album also serves as Sheeran's second project of 2023, following the May release of his previous album -, and is the first studio album for which he owns the copyright.[1]
Background
On 24 August 2023, Sheeran announced the album on social media, in which he said: "Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded". He also added: "My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed Enigma Variations, where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends. This is what inspired me to make this album."[2][3][4]
The album was his first album released independently on his own label, Gingerbread Man Records. Sheeran said that there would be no singles or music videos released to promote the album,[5] although one single, "American Town", was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio the same day as the album was released.[6]
On 2 October 2023, the Fan Living Room Sessions edition of Autumn Variations was released. Each song was recorded live in a different fan's living room.[7]
On 21 September 2023, Sheeran performed "American Town", "Magical", "Blue" and "Plastic Bag" during his Amazon Music Live concert; the performance of "Plastic Bag" was uploaded on YouTube on 26 September 2023.[8] Several songs from Autumn Variations were also performed during the - Tour between July and September 2023, and during the +–=÷× Tour concert in Inglewood on 23 September 2023.[9]
Five live acoustic videos of "American Town", "Plastic Bag", "Magical", "Blue", and "When Will I Be Alright" were uploaded on YouTube shortly after the album was released.[10]
On 18 and 19 November 2023, Sheeran performed Autumn Variations in its entirety at the Royal Albert Hall, London.[11]
Autumn Variations received a score of 62 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 6 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[13]
James Hall of The Telegraph gave the album five out of five stars and called it "meatier, more absorbing and more varied than the slightly monotonic Subtract", opining that "Sheeran sounds like a supercharged David Gray. Grown-up. Energised. Forget Autumn, this feels like an album of bright new dawns".[19] Helen Brown of The Independent found that Sheeran "sticks to the busker'n'beats style that's made him the best-selling male artist of the past decade" and on the album he is "in mellow, misty-eyed mode, rather than the cringier dancefloor zone of Collaborations".[16]
NME's Thomas Smith wrote that "the nuance and specificity of his last album's songwriting is largely absent; instead Autumn Variations is akin to aimlessly swiping through Instagram, blurry snaps of followers' leafy happenings whizzing past in a distracted daze".[18] Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian described the album as a "another occasion to despair at the colossal popularity of such proudly unimaginative, staunchly unoriginal and intellectually bereft music", with "dashed-off lyrics, half-arsed even by Sheeran's standards" and that "many don't rhyme, scan or even make basic sense".[15]
Commercial performance
In the UK, Autumn Variations debuted as Sheeran's seventh number one on the UK Albums Chart selling 30,016 units (16,027 CD, 6,121 vinyl albums, 2,188 digital downloads and 5,680 sales-equivalent streams).[20][21] The album charted in the top 10 for two weeks, leaving the top 40 in its third week.[22]
In the United States, Autumn Variations debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 with 62,000 album-equivalent units, which included 46,500 pure album sales, marking the highest debut of the week and the best-selling album of the week in terms of pure sales.[23]Autumn Variations marks Sheeran's seventh top-ten album on the Billboard 200 and second in 2023.[23] Of Autumn Variations's 46,500 first-week sales, physical sales comprised 33,500 (17,500 on CD and 16,000 on vinyl, his largest week ever on vinyl) and digital downloads comprised a little over 13,000.[24] The album marked Sheeran's fourth number-one album on the Billboard Vinyl Albums chart.[24] In the second week, the album fell at number 96 on the Billboard 200, following which it exited the chart.[25][26]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Ed Sheeran and Aaron Dessner, and produced by Dessner, except where noted.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 40.Týden 2023 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
