搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎上添加了英語原文與排版調整）

翻譯：Tyler Smith

審譯：Ryan-Chopin

排版：Ryan-Chopin

黃老板的新EP《No.6 Collaborations Project》聲勢浩大且巨星云集

唱作型歌手Ed sheeran對孤獨、名譽以及婚姻帶來的救贖展開了沉思。多名手握前40名熱單的歌手前來助陣。

In 2011, a few months before his career exploded and he took the mantle as the world’s most successful busker,?Ed Sheeran?put out an EP called?No.5 Collaborations Project, a series of duets with established artists from the UK’s grime scene. Eight years, three multi-platinum albums (Plus,?Multiply, and?Divide), and hundreds of sold-out arenas later, he returns to the guest-heavy format with?No.6 Collaborations Project, an album guided by the?logic of a DJ Khaled album?or the?Suicide Squad?OST, which is to say an all-star event engineered for maximum commercial impact.

2011年，黃老板(Ed Sheeran)推出了一張名為《No.5 Collaborations Project》的EP，里面是他與來自英國臟臟（grime）音樂流派（一種街頭freestyle音樂流派）的知名藝術家的一系列合作曲，幾個月后他便成為了世界上最成功的街頭藝人并且迎來了事業(yè)大爆期，八年來，他發(fā)行了三張多白金唱片(《+》，《x》，《?》)，數(shù)百場演唱會門票售罄。《No.6 Collaborations Project》與DJ Khaled的專輯和《Suicide Squad OST》有著極大相似之處，這些專輯里都群星璀璨，最大限度地發(fā)揮了其商業(yè)影響力。

No.6?leverages an almost unprecedentedly batshit list of superstar feature artists, including Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Eminem, 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper,?Camila Cabello, Young Thug, Skrillex, Chris Stapleton, Bruno Mars, Stormzy and others, all gathered to frame Sheeran as not merely a globetrotting acoustic troubadour, but a dynamic pop artist fluent in hip hop, R&B and dancehall. Yet, amid what could be a messily ambitious gamble, Sheeran creates a narrative through line that explores the tension between the incredible social anxiety he’s developed as a result of his international fame and its only antidote — the loving embrace of his wife, Cherry.

《No.6 Collaborations Project》聚齊了前所未有的超級巨星陣容，包括Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, Cardi B, Eminem, 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Camila Cabello, Young Thug, Skrillex, Chris Stapleton, Bruno Mars, Stormzy等人，在與他們相得益彰的合作中，黃老板證明了自己不僅是一個游歷世界的民謠歌手，也是一個神通廣大的流行藝術家，他駕馭嘻哈，R&B和舞曲都得心應手。在各色各樣的曲風中，黃老板在歌詞中娓娓道來了他因享譽全球所產生的焦慮，當然，他還有唯一的解藥，那就是他妻子Cherry慰藉的擁抱。

Sheeran has always presented himself as a Jon Lajoie-style?everyday, regular, normal guy?at heart. This identity is more pronounced than ever on?No.6. He spends a significant portion of the album dwelling on his hatred of parties—he stiff-arms “Lamborghini and rented Hummer” culture on the opener “Beautiful People,” asks people not to touch him in the club on “Antisocial,” and professes the joy of leaving the function to go be with his girl on “I Don’t Care.” The thesis of?No.6?is that celebrity (especially when coupled with introversion) is a terrible curse. Sheeran can’t help but repeatedly name-drop the far-flung cities he goes to and brag about the obscene money he’s raking in (“grossed half a bill on the Divide Tour”), but he makes it clear that he’d much rather be home alone with Cherry. “’Cause I don’t care when I’m with my baby, All the bad things disappear.”

黃老板由內而外地把自己塑造為Jon Lajoie一樣作息規(guī)律，普通得不能再普通的男孩。這種身份在他的新EP中得到了反復強調，他花了很長的篇幅來說明他對派對的厭惡—他排斥“Beautiful People”中的?“Lamborghini and rented Hummer（蘭博基尼和租來的悍馬）” 在“Antisocial” 里叫別人別碰他，在“I Don’t Care”中講述他離開聚會，與他的妻子為伴的快樂?！禢o.6 Collaborations Project》傳達了這一觀點：名人（尤其是內向的名人）會受到一個可怕的詛咒。黃老板不斷提到他去過的遠方城市，忍不住吹噓自己賺了多少錢（“grossed half a bill on the Divide Tour收入了半個Divide世界巡回演唱會的錢），但是他的意思很明了，他更喜歡在家里與Cherry過二人世界?！耙驗槲也辉诤酰灰c我的寶貝兒在一起，所有的壞事都會走開”（“I Don’t Care”歌詞）

Sheeran’s unobtrusively sweet voice easily slips between genres, but he struggles to connect with many of his A-list guest artists, deepening the album’s isolated mood. This is partly due to a litany of mailed-in features; Meek Mill and A Boogie wit da Hoodie both sound like they need a nap on their respective verses on “1000 Nights.” But Sheeran’s creative risks also tend to sour the album’s most promising collaborations, like when he utters the words “te amo mami” opposite Camila Cabello on the “Shape of You” redux “South of the Border,” or when he announces that he and Stormzy are “on grime” on “Take Me Back To London.”?No.6?is defined in large part by Sheeran’s earnest attempts to incorporate hip hop styles and signifiers into his music — a?Scotch snap?here, a Nate Dogg pastiche there, a Migos-inspired ad-lib everywhere—but it’s too big a stretch for him to convincingly pull off.

黃老板不引人注意的甜美嗓音很容易在不同流派間轉換，但他很難與許多當紅合作者產生化學反應，因此加深了專輯中孤獨的氣氛。這在一定程度上是由于合作得太多太雜。Meek Mill和A Boogie wit da Hoodie聽起來都像是在各自的《一千個夜晚》(1000 Nights)里需要小睡一下。黃老板大膽的創(chuàng)意卻有搞砸最棒合作曲目的傾向,例如他在“shape of you”的翻版“south of the border”里對卡妹說出“我愛你”的時候,或當他在“Take Me Back To London”中宣稱他和Stormzy“在玩grime音樂”之時。在《No.6 Collaborations Project》中，黃老板認真嘗試著想將嘻哈風格和符號融入他的音樂，這在很大程度上決定了這張EP的音樂走向——從蘇格蘭風格到Nate Dogg的仿作，到處都是Migos風格的即興表演——但這對他來說風格跳動幅度太大了，因此難以成為令人信服的佳作。

Sheeran communicates his affection for Cherry through impassioned repetition. In the context of his crippling fame, his persistent yearning for her company is surprisingly heartening; it injects?No.6?with a gravity not present in his depictions of sex and, especially, drug use (“You don’t know what’s in my brain…”). On “I Don’t Want Your Money,” he describes the stresses his touring schedule places on his relationship with Cherry, and in the process reminds us that he’s as lovesick and needy as the rest of us, despite all his money, fans, and famous friends. In moments like these,?Sheeran succeeds in painting himself in sharper focus—the superstar in crisis whose only salvation is marital bliss.

黃老板不厭其煩且充滿激情地談論著他與妻子的感情。在他聲名狼藉的時候，每每想到妻子的陪伴便能使他重新振奮，這為《No.6 Collaborations Project》注入了一種嚴肅感，而這種嚴肅感不存在于對性的描寫中，更不存在于對毒品的描寫中(“You don’t know what’s in my brain你不知道我腦子里裝的什么…”)。在?“I Don’t Want Your Money”中，他描述了他的巡演日程給他與妻子之間的感情帶來的壓力，在這過程中他提醒了我們，即使他是億萬富翁，坐擁無數(shù)粉絲，結識了許多社會上層的朋友，他仍與我們普通大眾一樣戀家，渴望被愛。黃老板成功把自己塑造成一個個性更鮮明的人物——對于這位處于危機中的超級巨星，幸福的婚姻是唯一能夠拯救他的東西。