''No. 5 Collaborations Project'' is a compilation

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) by English singer-songwriter

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

. It was the final of five EPs he recorded with the hope of being signed by a record label, hence the title. Musically the album combined sensitive production, with serious subject matters and "haunting" themes. Sheeran wanted each song to act as a musical and tried to avoid lyrics about women. The EP compiles tracks of collaborations with

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust * Grime (music genre), a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * ''Grime'' (video game), a 2021 Metroidvania video game * "Grime", a 2022 song by Dallas Wood ...

artists such as

Devlin Devlin may refer to: * Devlin (surname) * Devlin (given name) * Devlin (rapper), a British rapper * ''Devlin'' (TV series), a 1974 animated TV series by Hanna-Barbera * ''Devlin'', a 1988 novel by Roderick Thorp * ''The Devil and Max Devlin '' ...

Wiley Wiley may refer to: Locations * Wiley, Colorado, a U.S. town *Wiley, Pleasants County, West Virginia, U.S. * Wiley-Kaserne, a district of the city of Neu-Ulm, Germany People * Wiley (musician), British grime MC, rapper, and producer * Wiley Mill ...

P Money Paris Moore-Williams (born 8 April 1989), better known by his stage name P Money, is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter from New Cross, South East London, who is also active in the drum and bass scene. He is best known for his live per ...

Ghetts Justin Clarke, better known by his stage name Ghetts (formerly Ghetto), is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter. His music has been played on national radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100, BBC Asian Network, and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Cur ...

and JME. Henry Yanney of Soul Culture gave the EP a positive review and it peaked at number 46 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

Development

The ''No. 5 Collaborations Project'' was conceived to be a record with every song acting as a musical without "songs about girls". One track speaks of being in a car crash. This was a track which he wanted to be "a spiritual thing about being taken home". Another track lyrically tells the story of saying goodbye to someone. When he collaborated with artist and rapper

he wanted to bring-out "the old Ghetts" with a "grimy-beat" and with rapper JME he wanted to bring "humour to the project". The title derived from a time when there was no "hype" surrounding Sheeran and he decided to create a buzz by producing five EPs: an indie-style EP, a singer-songwriter EP, a folk-style EP, a live EP and a collaborations EP, the latter fifth EP leading to the title ''No. 5 Collaborations Project''. These five EPs (''You Need Me, Loose Change, Songs I Wrote with Amy,'' and ''Live at the Bedford'', respectively) would later be collected and released in a full album, simply titled “ 5.”

Music and reception

The EP is composed of "haunting" and "sensitive production" which "meshes the protagonist’s acoustic compositions with sombre, intense beats". The first track, "Lately," features rapper

and, lyrically, discusses insomnia and stress deriving from their work as musicians. The next track, "You," features rapper

and speaks lyrically of family. The next track, actually titled "Family" and featuring

, creates a "tense atmosphere" and recalls a near fatal car crash which P Money was involved in. The dark mood is furthered with track "Little Lady", a re-recording of Sheeran's single "

The A Team ''The A-Team'' is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from January 1983 to March 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The four members of the team were tried by court marti ...

", which features three rap verses from Mikill Pane. Henry Yanney of ''Soul Culture'' gave the EP four out of five marks, calling Sheeran an "excellent storyteller" and finding "The folk-meets-indie-meets-poetry format seemingly encourages/forces the guests on board to produce more reflective, thoughtful lyricism than per usual". Yanney discussed Sheeran's mainstream success with the EP noting, "For an artist on the precipice of mainstream recognition, ''No. 5 Collaborations Project'' is arguably the most anti-commercial project to emerge from someone at that level", concluding his review by stating "The EP which solidifies his 'One To Watch' tag, Ed Sheeran, on pure talent alone, remains one of this year's most promising talents". In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

the album spent one week on the

placing at number 46.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 EPs Ed Sheeran EPs Albums produced by Ed Sheeran Albums produced by Jake Gosling Collaborative albums Self-released EPs Grime music EPs