Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran

DownloadSmall Bump is a song about a parent marveling at the miracle that is their child (You are my one and only, you can wrap your fingers ’round my thumb) and the act of just noting the small miracles that permeate sharing a life with a child and watching it grow. The lyrics are crisp and perfectly clear, and amazing well crafted and intricate. Though you have heard many songs about children, this one is about as well written a song on the subject as we have ever heard. And the video places Ed in a waiting room, as time lapses, and shows him, sitting their, stirring in his seat. There is a sense of impatience we get from the moment, and they do a great job of making it feel like we are sitting there, waiting with him, as oppose to watching him wait. Watching some wait can be boring. Waiting on something huge with someone can be intense. And the more the video progresses, the more you realize we may not be waiting on good news.

You think of a song like Butterfly Kisses that just tries to ram the idea of parenting down your throat with contrived lyrics, and then you think of a song like this that just does it so quietly and marvelously, and it does not even feel like it tries. “Fingernails the size of a half grain of rice.” The visual in that line alone is so striking, it made us feel TWICE as bad for not liking this guy before.