In 2011, on the verge of becoming a
mainstream superstar, Ed Sheeran released
a little EP called No 5 Collaborations Project.
Featuring grime and rap acts like Devlin,
Wiley, Ghetts and JME, each track was meant
to act as a musical, telling a specific story.
The eight-song record is significantly darker
(sample “Family” ft P Money and “Nightmares”
ft Random Impulse, Sway and Wretch 32) than the sugary pop that the
Grammy winner has come to be known for – especially since he made it
a point to not write songs about girls for that record.
Sheeran enjoyed the process enough to revive the project in 2018
while on tour, putting together a 15-track album “on his laptop”. And,
based on the two singles out at the time of writing this, it sounds like,
at the very least, karaoke night’s about to get an upgrade. On the
dancehall-y “I Don’t Care”, Sheeran and homeboy Justin Bieber muse
on social anxiety with gay abandon, while “Cross Me” has fellow best
human Chance the Rapper (and PnB Rock) delivering a catchy refrain
about defending their ladies’ honour. Just more proof that nice guys
don’t always finish last. July 12WO K E YO K E
A lot of x’s and o’s on Ed Sheeran’s expansive new
No 6 Collaborations ProjectALBUMSA NIGHTMARE ON
ELM STREET (1984)
WES CR AVEN
Twelve years before
Scream, Craven intercepted
the constant stream of
copycat ghosts with this
unbelievably violent slasher.SPELLBINDER (1988)
JANET GREEK
A thriller involving
a lovestruck man, a
Satanic cult and a
young Kelly Preston,
Spellbinder “plays with
your mind.”CHILD’S PL AY ( 1988 )
TOM HOLLAND
Chucky the evil doll is
another in a series of
inanimate objects that
continue to haunt us:
Expect a remake in
theatres this year.THE OTHERS (2001)
ALEJANDRO AMENABAR
A pillar of the genre,
this Nicole Kidman-
starrer threw in
a couple kids in a
Victorian-era mansion
and an epic twist.SALEM’S LOT (1979)
TOBE HOOPER
His first brush with
horror, Ghosh watched
this mini-series for actor
David Soul, of whom he
was a fan. “I had the shit
scared out of me!”Ed SheeranWATCH IT AGA I N
Here, the cult classics Ghosh
thinks are worth a revisit: not
including Sixth Sense (“the
godfather of all horror”) and
The Shining (“Jack Nicholson,
period”), for obvious reasons.