Ed Sheeran Follows Through On Desire To Transition To Country Music With Riveting Performance At ACM

Singer Ed Sheeran is exploring other genres of music! 

The "Perfect" hitmaker is known for his unique sound, often described as pop, and has earned him top spots on several charts and numerous award recognitions, including four Grammy awards.

As much as the "Shape of You" singer has made his mark in the pop genre, he recently expressed his aim to take his music career to another level and did so excellently at the recently-concluded ACM awards.

The "Thinking Out Loud" singer put up quite a show at the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards, giving the audience a fresh sound unlike his regular. The British singer-songwriter performed his new song "Life Goes On" alongside country star Luke Combs. 

Combs first gave a rendition of his hit song, "Love You Anyway," from his "Gettin' Old" album. When he was done, the camera panned to Sheeran, who played the guitar and sang "Life Goes On" from his new album, "Subtract." Midway through the acoustic rendition, Combs joined him to harmonize the track.

This performance would be the first of many as Sheeran expressed his desire to delve into country music. Days before the Academy of Country Music Awards, Sheeran told Billboard of his intentions to explore country music. 

While speaking with the news outlet, the singer said, "I talk about this to my wife all the time. I would love to transition into the country. I love the culture of it; I love the songwriting. It's just like brilliant songs." 

The "Happier" singer believes he's a big country music fan. He also attributed his environment to inspiring his love for country music, having lived in Nashville twice for extended periods in 2013 and 2018. 

In his words, "It's like a community. There's not a place in Europe where you could point and say, 'That's the home of songwriting.'" It's not just for country music. Nashville is just a hub of incredible songwriters and great performers. And I felt inspired just being there, being around everyone."

Also, the singer noted that Taylor Swift played a role in his love for country music. "I'd never really listened to country music as a kid. It was only being on Taylor's Red tour and living in Nashville and her introducing me to that side of it."

The Grammy winner's revelations to delve into a new genre came days after winning the copyright suit brought against him by the family of Marvin Gaye's songwriting collaborator, Ed Townsend.

The Blast reported that a Manhattan federal court found Sheeran not guilty of using vital parts of Gaye's 1970s famous "Let's Get It On" song to create "Thinking Out Loud."

The 32-year-old singer was on trial for almost two weeks and admitted to the press after the verdict that the situation left him "frustrated." Sheeran said, "It looks like I'm not going to have to give up my day job after all," referencing his pledge to end his music career if the judgment wasn't in his favor. 

He further explained that such "baseless claims" which brought about the copyright suit shouldn't be "allowed to go to court at all," emphasizing that unfavorable outcomes will limit the "creative freedom of songwriters."

U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton presided over the copyright suit, highlighting to the jury before the deliberations that "Independent creation is a complete defense, no matter how similar that song is."

The judge then told the jury members that the plaintiff's lawyers had to "prove by a preponderance of the evidence… that Sheeran actually copied and wrongfully copied 'Let's Get It On,'" seemingly pointing out to them that their decision should be based entirely on the facts of the case. 

During the trial, the "Castle On the Hill" singer tried as much as possible to negate the allegations and point out some weaknesses in the plaintiff's arguments. The singer claimed that "many songs have similar chords," making it easy for him to mash them up for his tunes, but it doesn't mean he replicated the songs.

Finally, after much deliberations by both parties, the verdict was in Sheeran's favor, making it the second copyright suit he has won in two years.