Ed Sheeran, "No. 6 Collaborations Project" (Atlantic)
If anything, Ed Sheeran's new album does two things. It lets him show off his tremendous range. And it lets him show off his impressive rolodex.
A stunning who's who of music's top stars — including Cardi B, Justin Bieber, Travis Scott, Khalid, Eminem and Bruno Mars — appear on "No. 6 Collaborations Project." The result is an understandably scattershot of styles — G-Funk, grime, trap, R&B, tropical hip-hop, ballads, hair metal — but what knits it together is an impossibly high level of songwriting and an undeniable joy.
Sheeran seems to revel in playing with Migos effects (Skrrt!), rap with Eminem, sing in front of a horn section and be on a track with Cardi B purring "Okurrr."
The title of the 15-track project is a nod to his 2011 "No. 5 Collaborations Project," which saw Sheeran team up with U.K. rappers. This time, he welcomes everyone from H.E.R. to Paulo Londra, an artist from Argentina. If listeners go on to explore some of the lesser-known collaborators — like the brilliant rapper Dave — then everyone wins.
Standouts include "Cross Me" with Chance the Rapper and PnB Rock, "Take Me Back to London" with Stormzy and "Beautiful People" with Khalid.
Despite all the collaborations, there are little touches that remind you it's a Sheeran album. He's still got that sad-sack, lovable misfit thing going on, despite earning acclaim and millions of bucks. Two songs — "Beautiful People" and "I Don't Care" with Bieber — have Sheeran at a party where he feels he doesn't belong. "I always feel like I'm nobody," he sings.
One thing that has changed is that marriage seems to agree with Sheeran. If in the past, he was creeping a little in an ex's DMs, the newly wed Sheeran has created an album awash with love messages to his wife. "I'm stickin' with my baby, for sure," he sings on "Cross Me." On "Put It All on Me," he admits: "Having my woman there is good for my soul." Missing home is a continual theme.
He does get frisky for someone not Mrs. Ed Sheeran on another fun track "South of the Border," a kind of U.S. cousin to his "Galway Girl." He and Camila Cabello celebrate a lass with "brown eyes, caramel thighs" who makes him cry out (OK, a little cringingly) "te amo, mami." Finally, Cardi B storms in to play up the double entendre of the title and announce: "I think that Ed got a lil' jungle fever."
A few of the guests elevate some songs — Stormzy and YEBBA, among them — but there are a few underwhelming tracks, including the Sheeran-Ella Mai union on "Put It All on Me" and the Bieber song.
For the last track, Sheeran, Mars and Chris Stapleton — just take a moment to wrap your head around that stunning trio — get into a Led Zeppelin groove with "BLOW," a head-banger awash in sexual imagery. "Pull my trigger/Let me blow your mind."
Too late. Our mind was blown a few tracks ago.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te said Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.
The funding will also “help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and also boost confidence in the region” Lai, currently Taiwan’s vice president, told visiting Michigan Representatives Lisa McClain, a Republican, and Democrat Dan Kildee at a meeting at the Presidential Office Building in the capital Taipei.
In the face of “authoritarian expansionism,” Taiwan is “determined to safeguard democracy and also safeguard our homeland, Lai said.”
Also known as William Lai, U.S.-educated former medical researcher is despised by Beijing for his opposition to political unification with the mainland. In recent elections, the pro-unification Nationalists won a narrow majority in the legislature, but their influence on foreign policy and other national issues remains limited.
The Senate will vote Tuesday on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining and and upgrading Taiwan's military hardware. Separately, Taiwan has signed billions in contracts with the U.S. for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the U.S. has also supplied to Ukraine.
Taiwan has also been expanding its own defense industry, building submarines and trainer jets. Next month it plans to commission its third and fourth domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy. as part of a strategy of asymmetrical warfare in which a smaller force counters its larger opponent by using cutting edge or nonconventional tactics and weaponry.
Lai, of the pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party, won the January election handily and takes over next month from President Tsai Ing-wen, whom Beijing has sought to isolate for the past eight years.
China is determined to annex the island, which it considers its own territory, by force if necessary and has been advertising that threat with daily incursions into waters and air space around Taiwan by navy ships and warplanes. It has also sought to pick away Taiwan's few remaining formal diplomatic partners.
While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties in deference to Beijing, McClain emphasized the need for the entire world to observe the strength of the relationship.
“Peace is our goal. But to do that, we have to have relationships and we value your relationship. Not only militarily, but economically,” she said.
Kildee said the timing of the visit was especially significant given the recent passage of the funding bill to “provide very important support to insure security in this region.”
"It’s important for the people of Taiwan, it’s important for the people in the United States, it’s important for the entire world,” Kildee said.
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, from left Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Mark Alford, center left, a member of the House Armed Services Committee shakes hands with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, left, meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Kildee and Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
