"The A Team" is the debut single by English singerEd Sheeran. It was released as a digital download in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2011, serving as thelead single from his debut album,+ (2011). "The A Team" is afolk ballad about a homeless woman addicted tocrack cocaine, aClass A drug. It was written after Sheeran visited a homeless shelter and heard some of the stories of the lives people had been living. He wrote the song following a last-minute performance at an event for the homeless. The chorus of "The A Team" was also used by Sheeran in the track "Little Lady", which featuresMikill Pane. "Little Lady" is available on theEPNo. 5 Collaborations Project.
It became a top 10 hit in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It debuted at number three on theUK Singles Chart, with sales of 57,607 copies.[2] The song was serviced to US radio formats in late 2012 and became asleeper hit there, gradually rising up theBillboard Hot 100 to peak at number 16, becoming Sheeran's first single on that chart. On 5 December, the song received aGrammy Award nomination forSong of the Year, Sheeran's first Grammy Award nomination. At the2012 Brit Awards, it was nominated forBest British Single.[3]
Sheeran said the song came from "an experience I had when I did a gig at a homeless shelter". He explained, "I was 18 at the time and kind of quite naive. So, I was a bit taken aback by some of the stories that I heard. [...] I wanted to write it so it sounded kind of upbeat, so you wouldn't really know what it's about, because it's quite a dark subject." In a 2011 video interview withAbsolute Radio, Sheeran stated that it was based on the experiences of a particular woman at the shelter, named Angel, hence the 'Angels to fly' line in the song.[4] Talking toBillboard, he explained the title: "A drug like crack cocaine is called a 'Class A drug'. That's in the same category as heroin. Instead of making it clear and just saying what the problem was, I'd say, 'She's in the 'Class A' team.'"[5] The single was released 1 May 2011, in the UK throughAtlantic Records. In US, "The A Team" was serviced toadult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) stations on 27 February 2012.
"The A Team" received critical acclaim.TheMark Moore ofContactmusic.com awarded the single 7/10, calling it a "beautiful melodic track that is made by its dark lyrical content..."[8] Critics also praised Sheeran's vocals. Robert Copsey ofDigital Spy awarded the song 5 stars out of 5, writing that Sheeran's "man-and-his-guitar concept is about as cliché as they come, but it's his intelligent lyrics and softer than cream cheese vocals that set him apart from the pack." He further praised the song, commenting that "Sheeran's frank honesty and lump-in-the-throat-like emotion are weighted by a folky melody and off-kilter acoustics."[9]
The track made its debut on theUK Singles Chart at number three on 19 June 2011[10] – entering as the second highest new entry behindCalvin Harris andKelis' "Bounce", which debuted at number two and then it spent four non-consecutive weeks at the number three position.[10] "The A Team" also saw chart success elsewhere, peaking at number two on theScottish Singles. "The A Team" became the best selling debut single and the overall eighth best-selling single of 2011 in the UK, shifting 801,000 copies.[11] As of September 2017, the song has sold 1,119,000 copies, with 46 million streams, making a total of 1,587,000 combined units.[12]
After being serviced to radio formats in US, the song made its first American chart entry onBillboard's componentAdult Pop Songs at number thirty-eight.[16] It also debuted at number 95 on theBillboard Hot 100 and has since peaked at number 16, becoming Sheeran's first top 20 hit on the chart. It also peaked at 29 on theCanadian Hot 100. As of February 2015, "The A Team" has sold 2.3 million copies in the United States.[17]
The music video for the song was shot and edited by Ruskin Kyle (Rivers Rush Video Production Company).[18] Sheeran refers to when he first created the demo for the song during an interview with 96.1 KISS,[19] "Whenever I wrote songs in the past, I never recorded them down because I didn't have a recorder but I had a Mac computer and made a video version of it." The original demos for "The A Team" were originally all recorded in this manner but not released to the public. When asked about his inspiration behind the Grammy nominated hit, Sheeran shared, "The A Team is written about a woman that I met in a homeless shelter."
The video was made at and aroundAngel tube station inIslington, London, and was uploaded to YouTube on 22 April 2010.[20] It depicts the story of a young woman addicted to drugs, portrayed by Selina MacDonald, who's seen trying to earn money sellingThe Big Issue magazine on the streets of London, actually selling one to Sheeran himself. The girl's struggles, both financial and existential, result in her prostituting herself to get money to buycrack. In the end, the girl dies alone in her room from her drug use, the outcome being the preface of the video, where a tearful grieving woman can be seen beside her corpse. An acoustic, unplugged version of the song was also uploaded onto the official Ed Sheeran YouTube page on 10 May 2011.
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
