艾德·希蘭：鄰家男孩的成功之路

Nice guys finish last， so the saying goes. There is one man， though， whose recent chart success seems to challenge that maxim. Official figures show that Ed Sheeran， who has persisted with his 1）scruffy image and simple songwriting， was the biggest-selling artist of 2014 with his second album， X. He is Britain’s biggest export since Downton Abbey.

Sheeran， already the most searchedfor male celebrity on Google， may well see his career scale further heights in 2015， with two Grammy nominations and three nights at Wembley Stadium in July—two of which are sold out. Performing with only a backing band， loop pedal and an acoustic guitar， he is about to pull off the biggest 2）busk of all time.

So how did Sheeran， a relatively normal bloke， making relatively normal music， manage to become Britain’s top-selling artist？

Niceness alone， of course， doesn’t account for his 3）blockbuster success with the album X；it sold 1.7m copies in 2014 in Britain， one of only two releases to beat the 1m mark， and has had over 430m streams worldwide since its release in June—more than any other artist globally. Perhaps it’s more thanks to Sheeran’s skills in balancing his 4）guise as the 5）bastion of 6）shabby student authenticity with the role of 7）mercurial businessman—not to mention a fierce sense of underdog ambition.

A bit of luck helps， too. The initial spark for Sheeran’s 8）stratospheric success can be traced back to two chance events. The first occurred during an 9）impromptu LA trip in 2010， which led to a friendship with the actor and musician 10）Jamie Foxx. Foxx saw Sheeran play and ended up providing him with exposure in the U.S. on his radio show， The Foxxhole. That same year， Sheeran’s music was noticed by the web 11）mogul Jamal Edwards， whose online channel SB.TV has shone a light on the wealth of talent emerging from the UK grime scene. The SB.TV connections led to Sheeran collaborating with established grime artists including Wiley， JME and Sway， while he simultaneously worked the 12）grind of indie venues in London， performing 300 shows in 2010 alone.

With opportunities opening in both the U.S. and UK， Sheeran was able to establish fans on both sides of the Atlantic—an accomplishment many musicians are unable to crack throughout the duration of their career.

George Ergatoudis， head of music for Radio 1 and 1Xtra， believes Sheeran’s ability to 13）straddle a multitude of modern genres makes him stand out. “He switches between folk music and black music in a unique way…no one else channels Eminem and Damien Rice simultaneously like he can，” he says.

Such careful cultural curation appeals to a range of ages， genres and genders， and allows Sheeran to be playlisted on Radio 1， Radio 2 and BBC 1Xtra. The latter channel named him the most powerful artist on its annual Power List—a choice that triggered controversy， given 1Xtra’s description as the “black music network.”

As well as catering to the indie crowd and pop audiences—the singer has toured with Taylor Swift—Sheeran’s honeyed vocals and 14）dalliance with rap styles have also helped increase his 15）trajectory in the U.S.， where hip hop and RB is a far more 16）lucrative business than in Britain. This year he collaborated with rapper The Game and appeared on the cover of the influential rap magazine Vibe.

Although much rap music can be about bragging， intrinsic to Sheeran’s aesthetic is his ability to appear everyday. Material on his debut album， +， had an obsession with promoting his allegiance to reality， and his Twitter feed is a constant source of 17）disarming truths， such as“doing the Victoria secrets fashion show tonight and I’m eating a Greggs sausage roll in the dressing room.”

Eric Clarke， professor of music at Oxford University， thinks this is a potent attribute for an artist in 2014. “His boy-next-door [image]—not very good looks but a perfectly nice guy—and the song Thinking Out Loud， with its reflections on getting older and fidelity and love in a fairly conventional context， is a slight counter-blast to fast-living celebrity culture.”

A far more straightforward explanation for Sheeran’s global impact lies within his songs. Fiona Bevan， the singer-songwriter who co-wrote One Direction’s Little Things with Sheeran， pins the copyable nature of his songs on the youth market’s current captivation with him.

She says： “Because of the fact that Ed plays solo guitar， and you can hear the acoustic guitar part on the records， the songs are accessible to people to learn to play at home. All his songs are so well written that you can strip away all the production and the songs still stand in their own right. I think the YouTube generation 18）gravitates towards this clear， seemingly simple songwriting when they want to cover their favourite songs， and share them with their networks—so there’s this incredible surge in awareness from fans on YouTube making their own versions and spreading them far and wide.”

To others， Sheeran’s ascent is baffling， perhaps even offensive to those who hoped that the voice of a new generation might be more revolutionary. In 2012， the influential journalist Caitlin Moran tweeted： “If my kids ever tell me they like Ed Sheeran， I’ll put them in a sack and throw them in a canal.”Sheeran’s response was to sidestep a potential social media spat by sending her “lots of hugs” via Twitter， prompting regret and a 19）grovelling offer of drinks on the part of Moran， which just goes to show that you should never underestimate the potency of being nice.

常言道：人善被人欺。然而，有一個人最近在榜單上取得的成績似乎要打破這個說法。官方數據顯示，艾德·希蘭于2014發行的第二張專輯《X》是年度唱片銷量之最，他雖然總是以一副不修邊幅的形象示人，但其歌曲創作風格則以簡單為主。這位英國歌手在國際上的名氣比得上盛極一時的英劇《唐頓莊園》。

作為谷歌搜索次數最多的男性名人，兩項格萊美獎項提名得主，希蘭有望在2015年把職業生涯推上一個新的高度。他將在今年7月份在溫布利體育館開三場演唱會——其中兩場門票已經售罄。演唱會只用到一個配樂樂隊，一個腳踏循環錄音器，和一個原聲吉他，他將要舉行一場最大型的“街頭表演秀”。

希蘭這個相對普通的家伙，做著相對普通的音樂，是怎樣成為英國銷量最高的歌手的呢？

當然，僅僅是友善的個性并不足以令他的唱片《X》轟動一時；在2014年，這張專輯在英國賣出了170萬張——去年只有兩張唱片的銷量超過了一百萬，去年六月發布以來，全球播放次數已超過了4300萬次——這比全世界任何一個歌手都要多。或許這得益于他平衡偽裝和真實的能力，一副典型的窮學生模樣，但事實上他是個精打細算的商人——更不用提他那份向上爬的強烈野心。

這其中還有運氣的幫忙。希蘭取得巨大成功的起因可追溯到曾經的兩次機遇。第一次是2010年在洛杉磯的一次即興表演，這次表演讓他與演員兼音樂人杰米·福克斯成為了朋友。福克斯看過希蘭表演后決定讓他上自己的電臺節目《The Foxxhole》。……