“Collaborations Project No. 6” by Ed Sheeran

Excited. Overjoyed. Dying of anticipation. These are all accurate descriptions of how I felt when I found out that Ed Sheeran was coming out with a new album. And, let me be clear, I am most definitely not an Ed Sheeran fanatic, a Sheerio, as those who are like to call themselves. I am, however, a fanatic for good music. So, I love to listen to his work because every one of his albums contain an entire tracklist of it.

For now, Sheeran’s new album is called “Collaboration Project No. 6,” which is fitting because every song on the lineup will be a collaboration with another artist. Already, Sheeran has come out with two singles: “Cross Me” featuring Chance the Rapper and “I Don’t Care” featuring Justin Bieber in order to raise publicity for the upcoming album, which is set to release July 12.

Although I am a little disappointed that Ed Sheeran’s new album will not be a subtraction symbol with a yellow cover—after all, his first album was a red plus sign, his third album was a green multiplication sign, and his most recent album was a blue division sign—I am still excited to see what new songs this album will bring, even if it doesn’t complete the circle of albums named after the four basic math calculations.

One thing that makes me nervous about Sheeran’s upcoming release is that so far, none of the music has been written in his usual style. Sheeran is renowned for his love songs, but “Cross Me” is rap, and “I Don’t Care” is pop, which are completely unrelated music styles.

Although both Bieber and Sheeran have had hit songs in the past and been recognized for producing great music—Sheeran has won four Grammy awards and Bieber has received one—they are very different musicians. To say the least, Sheeran, who is the person that sang “A heart that’s been broken is a heart that’s been loved,” is not the same person as Bieber, who sang “I got money in my hands that I’d really like to blow.”

All of this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, I think that it’s important for musicians to explore different styles because the switch might even benefit their careers. Just look at Katy Perry, who used to sing Christian pop music. After she switched genres, she became one of the top grossing artists of all time.

Still, I don’t want Sheeran to switch genres. In fact, the idea makes me sad. Sheeran has produced some of the most iconic songs of the decade, and I don’t want his streak of great songs to come to an end.