Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Sheeran doubles down on the blend of hip-hop bravado and everyday-bloke songwriting that helped him break out at the turn of the decade."

Spin - "Sheeran's ear for melody and clever turn of phrase has won him acclaim as a songwriter for himself and for others, but his power stems from his belief that the simplest emotions are still worth stating plainly..."

NME (Magazine) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[H]is latest album is as likeable as he seems in interviews: assured but unassuming and sometimes hard to fathom. There's probably a mathematical formula to Ed Sheeran's success, but he's the only one who can crunch the numbers."

Clash (Magazine) - "[A] record which is astonishingly assured....[Every song] has a strong hook, a nagging melody, something that makes it stick in your head."