The a Team

The A Team by Ed Sheeran is a song that tells a story of a woman who is struggling with drug addiction that leads to bankruptcy, homelessness and prostitution. The song emphasises the effects of what drug addiction can do to a person, how powerful it is and how it can take over your life. Ed Sheeran mainly uses strong emotive language in most of his songs to send a powerful message across.
In the first verse the woman struggles with bankruptcy and homelessness. Ed Sheeran tells the listeners this story through the use of emotive language. “white lips, pale face, breathing in snowflakes,” states this woman is out in the cold and homeless because of her drug addiction. “Burnt lungs, sour taste” this is how she feels when she takes the drugs. “Lights gone, days end. Struggling to pay rent.” The effect of ‘lights gone’ tells the listener that she hasn’t been successful in paying her rent because her electricity has been cut off and her drug dealer takes majority of her earnings. This forces her to go out again and again to earn more and it’s as if she’s in a continuous cycle of addiction that she can’t escape.
The song then goes onto the issue of prostitution. “Long nights, strange men.” The woman spends endless nights walking around and sleeping with strange men. She has no deep, loving connections with these men which shows the desperation that she has to earn money for her drugs.
In this next verse we receive a better understanding of the woman’s struggles. We get more ideas about her drug addiction and prostitution. “And they say, she’s in the class A Team, stuck in her daydream, been this way since eighteen.” ‘The class A Team’ informs us that she is taking a class A drug which is the most dangerous type of drug such as cocaine or heroin. She is stuck in a ‘daydream’ because she’s high and caught up in a fantasy world dreaming about a successful life instead of making any effort to change and pursue this better life. She’s out of touch with reality. The woman...