Review of Ed Sheeran's "The Sum of It All": an unexpectedly touching, personal look at marriage, grief, and mental health

 Cheekier audiences than I might be curious as to how this Disney+ documentary will be able to cover the artist in a full four-part series. Sheeran is enormous, the largest male pop performer in the world, and he is capable of selling out Wembley Stadium repeatedly, as he does here. Each of his albums debuts at No. 1, and he has performed in almost every major stadium in the world. He will perform on stage with Beyoncé and Eminem. However, if you just know about his life through the newspapers or from gossip osmosis, you might be aware that he owns a pub, wed a classmate, continues to reside in Suffolk, and has a pond that was once contentious. He is more like pale ale than champagne as a celebrity. He exudes a cosy quality.

This hospitability masks an unidentified factor, though. His normal-guy act may be the limit of it rather than being unknown in the Beyoncé sense of being at a distance behind a glossy machine. We view him as a diligent worker who did well. He seems to be a really lovely guy. The documentary puts the unidentified man in the spotlight through the people who do know and love him, including his wife Cherry and his parents John and Imogen. Again, cheekier viewers might point out that the documentary is timed to coincide with a high-profile court case against him, which greatly contributes to his becoming even more human and likeable.

Each episode has a name, ranging from "Love" to "Loss," and each one delivers a shockingly strong emotional punch. Sheeran seemed to be as surprised as everybody else by this. He acknowledges that initially he assumed it would be a documentary on the creation of his fifth solo album, Subtract, which is scheduled to be released at the end of this week. But he was hit by life. His wife Cherry discusses the reasons behind their decision to work on the movie during a date night. Her cancer was discovered when she was expecting their second child. 

Doctors initially thought it was "really bad" and were concerned. She questioned what her legacy might be if she passed away as she faced her own death. Sheeran had the same concerns. He wants to convey to people that he is more than simply a robot trying to reach No. 1 or a music machine, she says.

There is a small amount of the robot getting to No. 1, but there is a lot more personal information than you would anticipate. We learn about his ascension to stardom and how it moved from online exposure and word-of-mouth to playing on American breakfast television. There are videos of Sheeran as a little child. 

He starts off by saying, "I'm speccy, ginger hair, really short, English, from the country, who stutters and beatboxes... that guy doesn't become a pop star." But he did succeed in becoming a music sensation. Sheeran has unwavering faith in his skills and potential, even at the young age of 15.

Although labels weren't yet interested, a young businessman named Jamal Edwards put him on his YouTube channel, SBTV, and after a song called The A-Team surfaced online in 2010, his path to popularity was cemented. They were each other's closest friends, and for a while, Sheeran lived with them. Edwards, who tragically passed away at a young age in 2022, is also a major subject in The Sum of It All.

Sheeran claims that he writes music "as therapy," yet when he performs the songs he has written about Edwards during a covert concert in London, he sobs repeatedly. Afterward, he criticises himself for not providing more entertainment that evening. According to his wife, she is concerned about his mental health. You can undoubtedly spot a man who avoids questions by making jokes or generalisations.

Here, there are traces of the conventional pop- or rock-doc. Travelling can be exhausting and isolating. Although the idea is not new, it is still strange to witness a man perform in front of tens of thousands of screaming, adoring people before returning to a dressing room, all by himself.Being separated from his wife and kids is difficult.

There is a tonne of behind-the-scenes footage for his music fans, including rehearsals with Stormzy at Wembley and creating the songs for Subtract. However, there is a lot of heart, and it is vital that he is candid about his sadness and pain, in my opinion. Come for the music and stay for an intimate look at marriage, loss, and mental health in a documentary about Ed Sheeran.