Ed sheeran the a team lyric analysis

a2 media coursework

1. Lyric Analysis The A Team- Ed Sheeran

2. “WHITE LIPS, PALE FACE Breathing in snow flakes burnt lungs, sour taste” I believe that the ‘snowflakes’ are symbolic of the girl in the music video taking drugs. The language used also represents her innocence and youth- it makes it seem to the audience that she doesn’t know how bad the drugs actually are for her. ‘Breathing in snowflakes’ can be taken literally as well, as in the music video the main girl seems to be a prostitute so she could literally be standing outside in the snow breathing in snowflakes.

3. “Lights gone days end” While it means the days has ended, it could also mean that all her days have become nights. There is no more light, e.g. no happiness, no hope in her life as she spends all her time doing drugs. It could also refer to the lights in her house. Hence the next line “Struggling to pay rent”. “struggling to pay rent long nights, strange men.” The girl portrayed in the music video seems to be very independent and not very wealthy, so she most likely struggles to pay her rent and bills. She also probably spends most of her money on drugs such as cocaine. Her living like this, forces her to be a prostitute and uses it as a way to survive in her life, selling sex to ‘strange’ men. Her nights are long and tiring.

4. “and they say, she’s in the class a team” The class A team is a metaphor- the main character in the music video is using class A drugs. Class A drugs are controlled by the UK Misuse of Drugs Act. The “they say” portrays that people talk about her behind her back and look down on her. “stuck in her daydream, been this way since 18” She has no prospects- she’s going to be like this forever. she tries to escape her harsh reality by trying to daydream about how things are going to get better, but we all know that its not. This line also refers to her drug addiction- she has been stuck in her trip since she was eighteen years old.

5. “But lately, her face seems slowly sinking, wasting crumbling like pastries” She’s been able to put up with her harsh reality for a long time but it is now slowly hitting her and she can no longer put up with it. She hates what she has to do to survive and she can’t deal with it anymore. Pastries crumble as they are fragile and delicate, this is a metaphor for her as she is insecure and feels fragile. She has become frail in her body and mind from the drugs that she is addicted too. Her face has also become white and pale from all the drugs that she has been taking. Because white connotes purity is shows her innocence.

6. “and they scream the worst thing in life comes free to us” By ‘they’ the writer means the general knowledge of the people. This means that we get the worst things in life for free. Ed is interpreting that the worst thing in her life is not the drugs as she pays for them herself willingly, but the fact that she is selling herself to men and they are abusing her. But this is also ironic as she gets paid for this. Another ironic thing about her being abused is that she has to actually pay most or her earnings to her ‘pimp’ which is ironic as she is actually paying someone to be abused. This could also be an interpretation on her drug addiction as usually your first does of coke comes for free a gift from your dealer as a tester etc.