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Ed Sheeran: Azizam review – a cross-cultural Persian experiment … which sounds incredibly English

After a couple of earthy, rootsy albums, Sheeran emphatically returns to pop with another of his indelible hooks, surrounded by Middle Eastern instrumentation

Having spent a decade voraciously pursuing vast success – and shifting 200m albums in the process – perhaps Sheeran had decided the moment was right to deliberately pull back, to do precisely what he wanted regardless of the sales figures. It’s billed as a “cross-cultural collaboration”, an experiment in Persian music inspired by the Iranian heritage of Stockholm-based producer Ilya Salmanzadeh (co-author of hits including Sam Smith’s Unholy, Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do and Ariana Grande’s Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored). The title is Farsi for “my dear one”, and its cast list involves an array of musicians playing Middle Eastern instruments – ghatam, daf, santur – as well as Sasy, an Iranian rapper and singer currently resident in the US, and the Citizens of the World Choir, which is made up of refugees.

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