For most of the 2010s, Ed Sheeran reigned as the definitive male pop artist of that era alongside Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, and The Weeknd. From “The A-Team” and “Don’t” to “Perfect” and “Shape of You,” Ed has delivered several modern pop classics that double as genuinely great songs. Last year, his = (Equals) album was unequivocally his least inspired and coherent body of work. A hodgepodge of attempts to place himself in a cultural landscape where female rappers and genre-benders were the rulers of the pop ecosystem, = (Equals) fell flat — despite earning a Grammy nod and three sizable global hits in “Bad Habits,” “Shivers,” and “2Step.”

Now, just over a year, following the release of = (Equals), Ed is back with the lead single from his forthcoming - (Subtract) album — a formidable return to form. Featuring songwriting and production credits from Max Martin, Shellback, Aaron Dessner, and Fred Again alongside Ed himself, “Eyes Closed” is an unsuspecting gut punch of a song that lands as Ed’s strongest pop song since his x (Multiply) days. A somber folk-pop number that finds Ed reflecting on the passing of his dear friend Jamal Edwards in the context of an understandably tumultuous few years, Ed flexes the skills that helped lift him to pop music’s zenith: his vulnerable songwriting and impassioned vocal interpretation of those lyrics. “Just dancin' with my eyes closed / 'Cause everywhere I look, I still see you,” he belts in the chorus. Delicate strings balance out the driving folk guitar that guides the song’s melodic progression while Ed’s expressive vocal morphs from a conversational tone to raspy belts.

“Eyes Open” is a slick synthesis of Dessner’s understated production style and the saccharine radio-ready melodies of Max Martin and Shellback. The song feels much more in tune with Ed’s artistic ethos than anything from his last record, and he sounds terrific on the track. A promising lead single and one of the most strikingly honest pop songs of the year so far, “Eyes Closed” finds Ed Sheeran back in the lane in which he most excels.

Score: 77