Ed Sheeran: The A Team Meaning
Song Released: 2011
The A Team Lyrics
Breathing in snowflakes
Burnt lungs, sour taste
Light's gone, day's end
Struggling to pay rent
Long nights, strange men
And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But...
-
This song is about a woman who has really messed up her life."Breathing in snowflakes" referring to her doing drugs. She does class A drugs hence the title of the song "The A Team". She lives on the streets and sells her body to pay for the drugs she's on. The woman has been doing these drugs since she was 18. The line "Call girl, no phone." is describing how she's low on money because she spends a large amount of it on drugs. I think how he refers to her as an angel means that even though she has messed up her life in many ways she is still beautiful. This song is a lesson to all of us..we are ALL beautiful<3
-
The song isn't about some random "crack whore". This song is about his best friend who was forced into prostitution at the age of 18. As I am sure everybody knows, it is damn near impossible to get out of prostitution without being killed by your "pimp" so as she continued selling her body (not having a choice), she developed a drug problem and relied on the drugs to escape her unimaginably horrid reality of having to sell herself. She did end up dying from this lifestyle, and so Ed Sheeran wrote this song in her memory. This isn't just my interpretation either, these are facts. And Natalia, if she was homeless it would have said "struggling to pay rent". You don't pay rent when you're homeless. Just saying.
-
"An angel will die covered in white" she's doing a drug thats the color white
"And go mad for a couple grams" she'll do anything for just a couple grams of the drug
"Angels" she might be on the drug angel dust
"been this way since 18" she started doing the drug at the age of 18
"In a pipe she flys to the motherland" she feels so happy and at peeace on the drug -
This song is about a prostetute on drugs. She has to prostetute to get the mony for the drugs, and if you've see the music video, you'd know that the woman is homeless. This song reminds me of hitting rockbottom in your life, and I tear up and remember that we've all got flaws, every time i hear it. But, at the same time, its such a beautiful song :')
-
This is an amazing song. Its about a young girl who was once beautiful but is slowly wasting away (white lips, pale face/but lately, her face seems slowly sinking, wasting, crumbling like pastries). She's "been this way since 18"
She is addicted to drugs (Class A, hence the A Team part), and has to sell her body "and sells love to another man" and "long nights, strange men"
It also mentions "nights gone, days end, struggling to pay rent"
Throughout the song there are many references to how the drugs and bad lifestyle are affecting her: the 1st lines, already mentioned "white lips, pale face". "Burnt lungs, sour taste" "Weary-eyed, dry throat"
You can also interpret she is probably homeless, as she is outside in the cold snow, and there is also the line "call girl, no phone" showing that she is without basic utilities.
In the chorus, it mentions "in a pipe, she flies to another land"This indicates how the drugs make her feel better, and/or think about her home.
"It's too cold outside, for angels to fly, an angel will die, etc" Here it also shows she is outside still. Also the significance of angels, hope, death, illness,heaven shows that such a celestial being is not attracted.
Her drug addiction "Coz we're just under the upperhand, go mad for a couple grams" Can seem to say grand instead of grams, but this is a reference to her drugs.
she wishes it were all better "stuck in her daydreams" "close eyes, and hope for a better life"
She is in an obvious state: "ripped gloves, raincoat" "dry house, wet clothes" however this indicates to me at least the warmth of a house-though perhaps that of a customer.
she tries to keep on "trying to swim, stay afloat"
"And they scream, the worst things in life come free to us"this is true. Ok, maybe drugs aren't free. But all the crap, the hassle, the addiction...well, that just gets handed out.
At the end, it mentions "an angel will die, covered in white, closed eye, and hope for a better life, we'll fade out tonight, straight down the line". This may be interpreted as her death, and her peace hopefully in this.
This is a song with a powerful message hidden in the words about young homeless people, drug addiction, prostitution and all the horrors we hope we will never have to face. -
Today is the first time I have seen this video and from what I have read I am assuming they have edited this video because people say they saw a pipe and a bag of what was suppose to be drugs and the video I seen (twice this morning and once on youtube) never once showed any drugs or paraphanalia thats why I googled the interpretations because it lacked a few things to make it easier to understand. I also saw no abuse or pimp in this version. I assumed it was drug related but in the end she lights a bunch of candles and lays back in a pleasured state. Someone who's not familiar with drugs wouldn't understand this. It starts out with her waking up on a park bench so I wanted to assume she was homeless but later she's in an apt that appears to be without power. Also, when she wakes up she's happy and kind of dancing around enjoying the morning like she was happy to wake up in nature but a real drug addict doesn't wake up that way so that threw me off. A real drug addict would be sick trying to get their next fix. She walks around the city and seems to go unnoticed like the community was aware of problems and numb to the sight of a homeless person and as she looks out at them its like she feels so close to fitting in and being part of the community but her "upperhand" keeps holding her back. She seemed hopeful that the day would be different but she only sold one magazine and the madness of the drug still calls loud and clear and her hope diminished when she realized that she still had to go sell her love to reach the motherland and forget, at least for the moment, that her life wasn't what she ever wanted. The actress was amazing and her acting as the john approached really made me feel her despair, fear, saddness, and giving up. When they enter the room I could see that this wasn't her first time and how much it hurt her. Then she goes to her apartment, lights a bunch of candles, and lays back with a look of delight on her face. At the end her face is see through over a building. You can see that this version leaves a lot untold. The part the touched me the most was when she stopped in front of the flower stand. It showed that she was really just a girl inside wanting beautiful things but knowing that a john isn't going to buy her flowers and she wont have anything beautiful as long as she's an addict. A man wont want a woman addicted to drugs to buy flowers for. I have been part of the drug world and witnessed a lot so I was able to figure it out but alot of people have no clue. I can see this having many meanings and every person having their own interpretation without the presense of drugs in thia video but it needed a little bit more in the ending. Everyone has their own inner battle they deal with everyday that everyone around them doesn't notice either because they're too busy with their own lives or the person is keeping it from them. We all try to hope that with a new day comes something better but in the end its all still the same and we all do what we need to do to get our "drug" whatever that may be; actual drugs, otc medications, prescription drugs, exercise, caffeine, cigarettes, love, sex, and so on. We all have addictions we must feed but some are alot worse than others and sometimes it gets carried away to where we feel guilty for allowing something to take control of our lives. I know this song is about drugs but it can interpret in other ways. All signs point to crystal meth, even though the video I watched didn't show anything specific but the lyrics described it. For the person who said its "some form of heroin" I must tell you that there's only 1 form of heroin just taken in different ways and having a slightly different structure depending on where its grown or where its sold. Also, it is smokable, for the person who said you can't smoke heroin. It's all still heroin in the end. Now crack is a form of Cocain. I don't believe this is about crack either because a crackhead needs a fix constantly and in the video she wasn't selling herself all day long. Great video and song that obviously really made me and others think. That goes a long way. Too many cut and dry cookie cutter songs out lately that use small words and explain the point in the lyrics IF it even needs explanation.
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
this song is a real life story about a prostitute who sells her body to take class a drugs.ed sheeran is a new talented artist song writing is amazing
-
Her name is not Angel.
-
I believe the author is telling the sad life story of a young, drug addicted girl who sells her body as a means to free herself from the poverty she is faced with daily. The name of the song ‘A team’ to me suggests that the girl is on class ‘A’ drugs and the word ‘team’ suggests she is part of a plethora of young ladies who also live this way.
The song is introduced with the lyrics ‘white lips, pale face, breathing in snowflakes.’ This line seems to advocate that the young girl is homeless on a winter day and having nowhere to go; she is forced outside in the freezing cold ‘breathing in the snowflakes.’ The words could also be a reference to drugs, where a ‘pale face’ could be the result of continued drug abuse.
The lyrics ‘burnt lungs, sour taste’ in the very next line, sound as though they make reference to drugs that the girl is taking, namely, Ice. Ice is classified a class ‘A’ drug and a sour taste in the mouth is often reported as a result of smoking the drug. The lyrics then go on to explain residential hardship, where the young girl ‘struggles to pay rent,’ conceivably due to her drug addiction. The girl is then forced to spend ‘long nights’ selling herself to ‘strange men’ just to get by.
The bridge then follows with the words ‘she’s in the class ‘A’ team.’ This I feel supports my idea that the girl is on class ‘A’ drugs and finds it difficult to escape from them, hence the sentiment ‘stuck in her daydream.’ My interpretation is that the author is conveying a girl whose substance abuse is worsening with age, yet no longer wishes to be ‘under the upper hand’ of drugs.
The chorus seems to support my idea that the girl no longer wishes to be controlled by drugs, yet is unable to escape as her addiction causes her to ‘go mad for a couple grams’(of the drugs).
The chorus states ‘she doesn’t want to go outside…..in her pipe she fly’s to the motherland.’ The words make me feel as though the girl does not wish to live the way she does and relies on the drugs to escape from her nightmarish reality. The last line of the chorus to me, suggests that the girl is unable to ‘fly’ or break free from her life because of the addiction.
The song continues to provide evidence of the girl’s homeless and helplessness, and the struggles she faces to provide herself with basic needs. The lyrics propose the girl is stuck in a vicious cycle of drugs, prostitution, depression, until ‘an angel dies, covered in white’ suggesting she finally finds peace, (represented by the colour white), in death. -
I think the song's about a girl who prostitudes herself to finance her addiction to class a drugs ('They say she's in the Class A Team'), perhaps crack ('in a pipe she flies to the Motherland'). She already does drugs since she's 18 and she can't seem to get rid of it. So the drugs slowly kill her. She gets thin, pale and kind of sick. It's not clear whether she dies at the end but it's almost sure that the drugs are going to kill her soon. This story of her life is sad, yea, but I think the song's not only about her life. It's much sadder that she's just one of many who've got a miserable life and try to forget it with (hard) drugs and alcohol with the only result their lives become even more miserable before they're finally released and die.
-
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
-
This a realy powerful song. I think it's about a young easten european prostitute who hates her life and what she's doing.'closed eyes and hoping for a better life'. She takes a-class drugs and when she gets high she thinks of home 'in a pipe she flys to he motherland' it's shuch a sad song it makes me cry. I hope that this song will raise awareness of people in this kind of situation and break the steriotipical image of prostitutes.
More Ed Sheeran songs »
Latest Articles
-
A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park -
Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable -
.jpg)
Dolly, we need you -
The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media -
The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s -
Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
Trending:
Just Posted
| Live Forever | anonymous |
| Space Oddity | anonymous |
| Remind You | anonymous |
| You've Got A Friend | anonymous |
| Austin | anonymous |
| Bel Air | anonymous |
| Firefly | anonymous |
| My Medicine | anonymous |
| Orphans | anonymous |
| Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) | anonymous |
| A Whole New World (End Title) | anonymous |
| Eyes Closed | anonymous |
| The Phrase That Pays | anonymous |
| Montreal | anonymous |
| Moonlight | anonymous |
