British musician Ed Sheeran is bringing his unique style of acoustic soul hip hop to U.S. shores.
The 21-year-old native of Suffolk, England, released his debut album "+" last September, which hit No. 1 on the U.K. album charts.
While critics have favorably received "+," Peter Robinson at "The Guardian" slammed Sheeran for leading a wave of "The New Boring" in British pop music.
SOUNDBITE: Ed Sheeran saying (English):
"To him, we're boring because I don't wear glittery makeup or a bacon thong everyday and hang about with lots of glitter and stuff, so that's me being boring, but what I said about that is that I didn't get into music to impress him, I got into music because I love it and I want to make people happy, I think it's the best job in the world."
The young singer is coming into the U.S. market on the heels of British boy bands One Direction and The Wanted, but offers up a very different style of pop, merging urban beats and his own rap skills into the singer-songwriter mold.
SOUNDBITE: Ed Sheeran saying (English):
"In terms of the music industry in the U.S., it's obviously bigger, and they're all very positive. It's been very positive. People like to celebrate success here, but there's not much different to the UK in terms of fan base."
The album hits U.S. stores on June 12.
Roselle Chen, Reuters.
