“Thinking Out Loud” is the song your maid of honor suggested before you’d even picked a date. It’s been the default wedding ballad for a decade, which means it comes with a little eye-roll from anyone who’s been to more than three weddings. But let’s be real, it’s earned the ubiquity.
Ed Sheeran wrote it with his old friend Amy Wadge in February 2014, and the story behind it is better than the song. Wadge was going through money troubles and drove to Sheeran’s house to ask if he’d put one of their old songs on his album so she could pay her mortgage. While she was there, Sheeran got out of the shower, heard her messing around with some chords on a guitar, and ran downstairs. They wrote “Thinking Out Loud” that day. The royalties paid off her house. She never has to worry about money again.
That’s a pretty good origin story for a love song.
Sheeran has said the song was inspired by his grandfather, who had just died, and his grandmother, who was sick. He called it “walking down the aisle song,” which is about as on the nose as it gets. It won Song of the Year at the Grammys, which means your wedding DJ definitely owns three copies.
And then there’s the music video, where Sheeran does a full ballroom routine after training for weeks. The man committed. Feeling the pressure now? You’ve got to respect it. (Actually, she burns a lot of calories in it to make him look good)
Ok, so can we dance to it?
Here’s my honest take: I want you to dance a Rumba to this song. I want you to, but don’t. 79 beats per minute is too slow for Rumba.
Wait, slow is easy!
It’s not. You feel every step, every turn, and you’re burning calories trying to hold back. Most beginner Rumbas live around 90 to 125 BPM, and this thing crawls at 79.
But here’s the thing: 79 BPM is right in the pocket for Nightclub Two-Step. It’s not my favorite, but it works. You can settle into the music instead of fighting it. The beat is dead simple. (4/4 all the way, no tricks).
The song builds gently from guitar and voice, but the beat in the first 25 seconds can be tough to pick up. Maybe use this for an entrance. Then start when the drums kick in.
The catch: it’s four minutes and forty-one seconds. That’s a marathon no matter what dance you’re doing. Most couples tape out around two and a half minutes. Talk to your DJ about a fadeout. There’s a natural exhale around 1:45 if you want a clean exit.
The score takes a hit because of the tempo and hard to find beat at the beginning of the song, but the rest of the song is strong.
So yeah, it’s been done a million times. It’s been done a million times because it works.
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