I am a huge fan of Ed Sheeran, and I'm a firm believer in the fact that Sheeran's music is absolutely untouchably perfect. Therefore, anyone who covers it should at least attempt to do it justice.
So I heard that Birdy did a cover of "The A Team", and my first thought was "who's Birdy?" Turns out she's a singer just a few months my elder, who has been singing since the age of 12.
Her cover? Mediocre. As a peer, I can say that though the attempt was decent, it was nowhere near what she could've made it. I hear a lot of potential in her voice and she just oversang it. She held notes too long, used a bit too much vibrato, and didn't make it her own as much as she attempted to change it a bit. It wasn't a good choice for her voice- she should sing tunes that accentuate her vocal strength. To put it bluntly, her vocal skills are good, but it just doesn't do "pretty" singing well. This is a perfect example of it. Some notes she sounds like she's yelling and it totally turned me off. That's no way to sing the song, and it was awfully disappointing.
That being said, she definitely has talent, but really needs to pick her songs better. She's one of those vocalists who can maybe sing one or two songs well, while the rest just make you a bit cringy.
Maybe cover something a bit less…pretty next time.