鄰家男孩的成功之路

by Harriet Gibsone

Arony 譯

Shout Out & Letters 我有話說/你來我往 63

鄰家男孩的成功之路

ED SHEERAN: FROM BOY NEXT DOOR TO TOP-SELLING ARTIST

by Harriet Gibsone

Arony 譯

艾德·希蘭：

艾德·希蘭（Ed Sheeran），1991年2月17日出生于英國英格蘭西約克郡，是一位創作歌手。2011年6月，他的首支單曲《The A Team》空降英國單曲榜第三名，并于第55屆格萊美頒獎典禮中被提名為年度最佳歌曲。第二張專輯《X》在英國銷售達170萬張，成為年度銷量冠軍；在美國，他與Taylor Swift合作演繹單曲，還在其演唱會中擔任嘉賓。除了為自己創作，他還為其他歌手寫下不少大熱單曲。但娛樂圈從來不缺年輕、有才、會唱歌的藝人，而這個相對普通的大男孩到底憑什么在短時間內在英美兩國迅速走紅呢？

N ice guys finish last, so the saying goes. There is one man, though, whose recent chart success seems to challenge that maxim. Offcial fgures show that Ed Sheeran, who has persisted with his1)scruffy image and simple songwriting, was the biggest-selling artist of 2014 with his second album, X. He is Britain’s biggest export since Downton Abbey.

Sheeran, already the most searchedfor male celebrity on Google, may well see his career scale further heights in 2015, with two Grammy nominations and three nights at Wembley Stadium in July—two of which are sold out. Performing with only a backing band, loop pedal and an acoustic guitar, he is about to pull off the biggest2)busk of all time.

So how did Sheeran, a relatively normal bloke, making relatively normal music, manage to become Britain’s top-selling artist?

常言道：人善被人欺。然而，有一個人最近在榜單上取得的成績似乎要打破這個說法。官方數據顯示，艾德·希蘭于2014發行的第二張專輯《X》是年度唱片銷量之最，他雖然總是以一副不修邊幅的形象示人，但其歌曲創作風格則以簡單為主。這位英國歌手在國際上的名氣比得上盛極一時的英劇《唐頓莊園》。

作為谷歌搜索次數最多的男性名人，兩項格萊美獎項提名得主，希蘭有望在2015年把職業生涯推上一個新的高度。他將在今年7月份在溫布利體育館開三場演唱會——其中兩場門票已經售罄。演唱會只用到一個配樂樂隊，一個腳踏循環錄音器，和一個原聲吉他，他將要舉行一場最大型的“街頭表演秀”。

希蘭這個相對普通的家伙，做著相對普通的音樂，是怎樣成為英國銷量最高的歌手的呢？

1) scruffy [?skr?f?] adj. 骯臟的，襤褸的

2) busk [b?sk] n. 沿街賣藝

3) blockbuster [?bl?kb?st?(r)] n. 轟動

Niceness alone, of course, doesn’t account for his3)blockbuster success with the album X;it sold 1.7m copies in 2014 in Britain, one of only two releases to beat the 1m mark, and has had over 430m streams worldwide since its release in June—more than any other artist globally. Perhaps it’s more thanks to Sheeran’s skills in balancing his4)guise as the5)bastion of6)shabby student authenticity with the role of7)mercurial businessman—not to mention a ferce sense of underdog ambition.

A bit of luck helps, too. The initial spark for Sheeran’s8)stratospheric success can be traced back to two chance events. The first occurred during an9)impromptu LA trip in 2010, which led to a friendship with the actor and musician10)Jamie Foxx. Foxx saw Sheeran play and ended up providing him with exposure in the U.S. on his radio show, The Foxxhole. That same year, Sheeran’s music was noticed by the web11)mogul Jamal Edwards, whose online channel SB.TV has shone a light on the wealth of talent emerging from the UK grime scene. The SB.TV connections led to Sheeran collaborating with established grime artists including Wiley, JME and Sway, while he simultaneously worked the12)grind of indie venues in London, performing 300 shows in 2010 alone.

With opportunities opening in both the U.S. and UK, Sheeran was able to establish fans on both sides of the Atlantic—an accomplishment many musicians are unable to crack throughout the duration of their career.

當然，僅僅是友善的個性并不足以令他的唱片《X》轟動一時；……