Countless memes have mocked his appearance, his understated wardrobe, his apparent lack of musical inspiration or personality. Judging might be the operative word: few pop stars are loved and hated in equal measure as Sheeran, with his many detractors often drowning out the stans. “People judge him by Shape of You or Bad Habits, but when you’ve been a fan for as long as most of us have, you know that his talent and kindness stretches way beyond writing the big pop hits.” Since then, they’ve attended 46 Sheeran concerts and he invited them backstage on the Divide tour. They first saw him live in a “tiny tent” at Rock Werchter in 2012. And he always loves us back – he even joined a Zoom call with fans on the Bad Habits release day. He reached the peak just through hard work, which inspires me a lot. “Only in Ed’s fandom have I truly felt part of something welcoming.”Īviral, 22, says he relates to Sheeran “because I’m also that uncool guy – a lot of us fans are. “I’ve been part of other fandoms, but there is always a jealousy and selfishness involved,” says Klara, a 27-year-old Belgian fan now based in the UK. For many fans, Sheeran’s normalcy is part of the appeal, and fosters a warmth among his fan community. Given that the most prominent stan activity tends to intersect with surveillance and cancel culture – artists who give us plenty to debate, scrutinise and riff on – perhaps it’s no wonder that loyalty to Sheeran doesn’t take up as much online consciousness. Photograph: thecelebrityfinder/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

That guy doesn’t become a pop star’ … Sheeran surrounded by fans in Los Angeles, May 2023. ‘I’m speccy, ginger hair, really short, English. While the documentary shows jubilant fans singing along at his stadium shows, wearing DIY T-shirts bearing the mathematical symbols Sheeran has named his albums after, they rarely get into conflagrations online unlike Styles, Swift or even Drake admirers, there’s little wider sense of a distinct fan culture with its own language, memes and even infighting. It’s quite possible that you had no idea they’re known as the Sheerios, a sobriquet that lacks immediate brand recognition. For one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Sheeran’s presumably gigantic hardcore fanbase is unusually quiet compared to stans of other superstar acts: Swifties, the BeyHive or the Styles-loving Harries. His success has brought with it another paradox. That guy doesn’t become a pop star.” Yet 16 Grammy nominations, 14 UK No 1 singles and 150m record sales later, here we are. The first line of his new Disney+ documentary, The Sum of It All, finds the multi-platinum songwriter declaring: “I’m speccy, ginger hair, really short, English, from the countryside, who stutters and beatboxes.

E d Sheeran is very aware of the contradictions at the heart of his superstardom.

The mysterious case at styles