The Meaning Of The Song
The A Team was written by Ed Sheeran when he was just 18 years old and was volunteering at a Crisis homeless shelter. He met a girl called Angel there who was a prostitute and she was the inspiration for the song.
Ed describes himself as being quite naive at that stage of life so was astonished by the stories of the people he encountered. He wrote the song after returning home. He tried to be subtle with the situations and people he described so the song didn’t end up being too dark. The line ‘She’s in the class A team’ was a reference to class A drugs such as cocaine and heroin. The line ‘It’s too cold outside for angels to fly’ is a reference to the girl Angel who inspired the song.
The feel of the song doesn’t really give the impression of a song about drugs, prostitution and homelessness though! It has an upbeat feel which provides an interesting contrast against the subject matter.
Facts About The Song
Release Date: 12th June 2011
Track Length: 4:18
Album: +
The video for the song was shot in Angel, North London and Camden, North West London. The track peaked at #3 on the UK Singles chart and also reached a top 5 position in countries such as Australia, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, and New Zealand.