Quick Review: Stormzy, Burna Boy, and Ed Sheeran Walk Into A Room…
Stormzy, Burna Boy, and Ed Sheeran come together for a hip-hop dance track titled “Own It”. The song and video were dropped just a few hours ago and have already garnered over 350 thousand views!
It is an upbeat song that praises a woman for being beautiful, stylish, and confident. Throughout the video, we follow around a group of beautiful women of diverse races.
Along with the musicians, they make their way through different scenes until they arrive at a party.
Let’s jump into the review…
At first glance, this is probably the most mismatched collaboration of all time. Stormzy is a bass-voiced grime rapper. Burna Boy is an Afrofusion singer with deep wavy vocals. And Ed Sheeran is a white pop star with a voice as clear as a bell.
These are completely different parts of completely different spectrums and we have no idea how this unlikely collaboration came about. Maybe the trio bonded over their shared British backgrounds. Or maybe Stormzy just wanted to cook us a huge pot of trendiness.
Initially, when I came across this song, I feared it would be like “End Game“. That song sounded like the collaborators sent their parts via WhatsApp voice note and joined it together using Fruity Loops.
It looks like it worked because “Own It” is a pretty nice blend of three very distinct sounds, one of which is a blend of sounds on its own. This is what happens when all members of the team do their homework.
Ed Sheeran seems to have stepped out of his sloppy collaborations with this one. Although he has a reputation of inserting himself into anything in vogue, this was not half as annoying as his other collaborations.
In fact, this collaboration would probably have been as annoying as Eminem’s “River” if Burna Boy had not been present to provide that much-needed smooth transition in between.
Burna’s transitioning and Ed’s emoting
The decision to have Burna Boy come interject throughout the song made it feel more like a unit. Although he did not have a standalone verse, he was the glue that held this entire song together, therefore, playing the most important part.
The Grammy nominee abruptly comes in in the middle of Stormzy’s verse. Not letting the track breathe before his entry solidifies that the songwriting was a team effort. And then he vocalizes after the chorus so Ed Sheeran’s part does not come off sounding disjointed from the rest of the song.
Because of this, Ed Sheeran is free to do what he does best; emote. He comes through with the sensitive lyrics about love and loneliness. But somehow, he manages to merge this with the upbeat instrumentation.
Finally, like icing on the cake, Burna Boy then closes the track with more mumbles and vocalizations. Stormzy did a good job picking Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran for this track.
It would have been a bit touch and go, but it is clear the trio put in a lot of effort in the studio.
