Ed Sheeran has a new look. For weeks now, the usually scruffy bespectacled singer has been teasing his new song, “Bad Habits,” on social media, with images of himself, clean shaven and tarted up like a glam rock vampire, complete with prominent fangs. He was first spotted sporting the Bowie-by-way-of-Edward-from-Twilight get-up back in April, while filming the “Bad Habits” video in London.
Though details are scarce, this would all seem to suggest the beginning of a new phase for Sheeran, possibly an imminent new concept album on which he adopts a new persona a la Ziggy Stardust or Sasha Fierce along with a new sound. But with today’s release of the new single and video, it’s time we addressed the most pressing question surrounding this new incarnation of Ed Sheeran: is it sexy?
Sheeran’s typical style is pretty unassuming. He’s generally a bit of a flannel-favoring everyman. He usually looks like the lovable, acoustic guitar strumming layabout whose girlfriend dreams of a visit from the Queer Eye guys. And, look, there is for sure a certain appeal to that approachable soft boy aesthetic. Like, you can’t take him anywhere, but he sure is nice to come home to.
That’s what makes this recent transformation so startling. Gone are Sheeran’s perpetually wispy beard and goofy glasses. The artfully tousled ginger mop has been shellacked into a jagged fright wig. He’s replaced the flannel with a sharply tailored suit in a bold shade of Pepto pink. And that’s not the only nod toward glammed-up androgyny. Ziggy Sheeran rocks smokey eye makeup and pink glitter and some impressively claw-like green lacquered nails.
And the whole thing kinda works! In the Dave Meyers directed video for “Bad Habits,” Sheeran, bless him, is doing a decent impression of a dandy with a bold sense of style. Until he opens his mouth. I don’t mean to sing—he sounds great on the EDM-infused bop. No, I’m talking about the fangs.
God. The fangs. Here’s the thing: sexy vampire is hard to pull off. The slightest miscalculation, the merest misstep can tip you over into mall-goth territory on the one hand or camp schlock in the other. A sexy vampire has to be chic as f*ck, which requires a certain amount of subtlety. And the glitter and color story, impressive though it may be, is kind of working against that here. Obviously, Sheeran’s trying for something here, and he’s mostly pulling it off. But the teeth feel like the proverbial last thing you put on that you really need to take off before you leave the house.
So, glam rock vampire Ed Sheeran? Pretty sexy. Seven out of 10. There. Glad we cleared that up.
