“White lips, pale face/Breathing in snowflakes.” “The A Team” is a popular song that sends a powerful message about social issues like, homelessness, substance abuse, and even prostitution. The song was released in June 2011 by singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran, from the United Kingdom. The music video accompanying the song, directed and filmed by Ruskin Kyle, closely depicts the song’s lyrics by showing several scenes about the subject the “Angel.” The video shows her struggles, despite the melo-like beat as the background of the song, as a drug tightens its control on her. When one looks at the lyrics and video in a combined approach, one truly sees the rhetoric used and the fight the protagonist endures before ultimately failing.
Starting …show more content…
Obviously, lyrics and a video about a homeless and drug-struggling woman pulls at the heart strings. However, the singer is not overly direct about this. Sheeran has a way of not saying exactly what he means. Instead when he speaks and where what is said needs to be looked at multiple times for best interpretation. When one does, one better sees“the Angel” is struggling. Take for example the opening line of the song “White lips, pale face/Breathing in snowflakes.” The lyrics seem confusing until one looks closers. The white lips and whiter face show the effects of the likely drug use and the snowflakes are the drugs. The notion is continued by lyrics such as “And they say/She’s in the Class A Team” likely meaning the Class A drug group of the United Kingdom (similar to Class I for the United States), where Sheeran is from. These drugs are very dangerous and tend to have the highest user addiction. As if the user could not feel any worse “the Angel” settles to being homeless and selling her body because of her habit. The singer tells how she “is/Struggling to pay rent” and having “Long nights, strange men.” The whole song can be summed up with “And go mad for a couple grams [of the user’s choice drug].” It is a sad situation that has hurt the protagonist for a long time: “Been this way since eighteen.” One listen to the song feels helpless. The woman being sang about has been like this for a long time and now is dead. What is a sadder ending than that the singer
Starting …show more content…
Obviously, lyrics and a video about a homeless and drug-struggling woman pulls at the heart strings. However, the singer is not overly direct about this. Sheeran has a way of not saying exactly what he means. Instead when he speaks and where what is said needs to be looked at multiple times for best interpretation. When one does, one better sees“the Angel” is struggling. Take for example the opening line of the song “White lips, pale face/Breathing in snowflakes.” The lyrics seem confusing until one looks closers. The white lips and whiter face show the effects of the likely drug use and the snowflakes are the drugs. The notion is continued by lyrics such as “And they say/She’s in the Class A Team” likely meaning the Class A drug group of the United Kingdom (similar to Class I for the United States), where Sheeran is from. These drugs are very dangerous and tend to have the highest user addiction. As if the user could not feel any worse “the Angel” settles to being homeless and selling her body because of her habit. The singer tells how she “is/Struggling to pay rent” and having “Long nights, strange men.” The whole song can be summed up with “And go mad for a couple grams [of the user’s choice drug].” It is a sad situation that has hurt the protagonist for a long time: “Been this way since eighteen.” One listen to the song feels helpless. The woman being sang about has been like this for a long time and now is dead. What is a sadder ending than that the singer