Fans were completely captivated by Jess Glynne’s smoky voice on her 9.2 million view collab with Ed Sheeran. The English superstar co-wrote “Thursday” with Glynne, and the pair delivered a delectable acoustic cover of the ballad in an intimate backstage performance. The stripped-back one guitar, two-voice cover was absolutely perfect for laying bare the raw emotions on the self-empowerment anthem.
As fans pointed out, if you close your eyes Glynne’s voice could be mistaken for Sheeran’s, which is perhaps why it was so natural for him to write with her. Glynne’s voice does, however, have a certain husky grit in the low range that distinguishes it, and it makes her such a great storyteller and songwriter as you can just get lost in her voice. “Thursday” is Glynne’s biggest late-career hit, and The Music Man has to say it’s no surprise as to why after hearing this touching performance.
Fans gave plenty of love for the duet, adding comments such as “She’s got a Tracy Chapman quality to her voice. I wasn’t looking when she started singing and I thought it was Ed. Very androgynous tone. Enjoyable and strong too” and “Her voice mixes sweetness, softness and perfection… Beautiful.” Viewers also gave props to Sheeran’s contribution, noting that despite his headliner status, he played a tasteful and classy supporting role in the performance.
Sheeran isn’t the only big name that Glynne collaborated with on “Thursday.” The English songstress also teamed up with Californian R&B star H.E.R. on an emotional live duet on the hit at the BRITs. H.E.R.’s soulful vocals really took this duet to another place, making the 2.7 million view performance a very memorable one. In contrast to Sheeran’s performance, where he acted more like a sideman, H.E.R. took center stage on “Thursday,” with several lead vocal features and plenty of gorgeous harmonies with Glynne.
Jess Glynne released “Thursday” as the third single from her 2018 studio album Always In Between. The English singer-songwriter co-wrote the song with Sheeran and Steve McCutcheon, with the latter also producing the number. “Thursday” peaked at number three on the UK charts. It also went double Platinum in the UK and is Glynne’s final single to date to hit that milestone. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Glynne told Billboard that she and Sheeran bonded over their shared insecurities as artists while writing the song. She explained that “We spoke about the highs and lows of being famous and doing the job that we do… you feel like you don’t know whether that’s just you.”