The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

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How Companies Are Trying to Conquer Your Web

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The Internet is not perfect. It has its problems, such as trolls who get everyone steaming mad, connection failures that mess up your day, harassment, fraud and many other complications.

However, it’s still an interesting and fun place to be with many perks, since you can watch shows, movies, etc and have discussions with people thousands of miles away, just to name a few. But an all-new issue may threaten your Internet experience. Companies like Verizon and Comcast want to abolish Net Neutrality, which would change how everyone enjoys and uses the Internet.

Net Neutrality is a complex subject that many people don’t understand. Simply put, Net Neutrality is the practice of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) treating all data equally. The ISP can’t discriminate based on the website or its content. They have to send out the data regardless of its origin. But without Net Neutrality, companies can pay the ISP an extra fee to have their data put on a “fast lane” while others have to have their content delivered slowly. This means that big corporations can crush small businesses who can’t pay the extra price of having their content delivered at a reasonable rate.

So, who will ultimately decide whether or not the Internet will remain open for all? Who has the power? The Federal Communications Commission regulates business over the Internet, radio, TV, cable and satellite throughout the United States, run by Chairman Tom Wheeler. The FCC will ultimately decide the fate of our Internet.

But, the common man is not without power to change the course of this issue. Hundreds of thousands of Americans used the Electronic Comment Filing System to voice your opposition to or support of the preservation of Net Neutrality until midnight July 17th, 2014. On the 15th, the FCC received “around 780,000 comments – which goes to show the strength of feeling over the issue” (Woollacot, Forbes) so much so that the site crashed. Most of those comments are in favor of Net Neutrality.

One of the arguments opponents of Net Neutrality use is that ISP could use the extra money to develop more advanced networks to improve Internet quality for everyone. John Thorne, the senior vice president of Verizon, said the company has no reason to develop advanced networks if it can’t charge companies who would want to use them. While that is certainly possible, the question is: Will they do that? They say they will do that, but after Net Neutrality is gone, will anyone be able to keep them to that claim?

Another argument is as the Internet gets more advanced and more data is transmitted, the companies will need more money from investments to ease the strain on the network. Companies won’t be able to handle all the new data they have to distribute by keeping Net Neutrality. As a result, many vital aspects of our lives will be affected such as security, education and communications. This is definitely a valid argument but we should find a way to increase the capabilities of networks without giving companies control of what quality they can provide.

The abolition of Net Neutrality is just another way for industries to establish monopolies in modern age by eliminating their competition. Not only small businesses, but even other major companies will lose money because of people’s unwillingness to wait for long buffering times. Despite what one may think, this is not completely a conflict between people and corporations. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google are all companies that oppose the abolition.

Ultimately, the fate of the Internet will be determined soon and we will have to fight for what we believe in. Today, a country like China, which doesn’t have Net Neutrality, has a government that is able to repress public opinion because the government can control how information gets to the people by using surveillance and regulation. Do we want to follow suit and live in a society where the people in charge can censor us? Companies like Verizon and Comcast will take over if we, as Internet users, let them.

The New York Knicks: Nowhere to Go But Up

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After earning 11 championship rings as an NBA coach, Phil Jackson has confronted a new obstacle, achieving a championship with the New York Knicks as an executive — one of his biggest challenges yet. On Tuesday, March 18th, 2014, the New York Knicks announced Jackson as their new president of Basketball operations.

Jackson, age 68, has thirteen rings, thirteen more than every current Knicks player combined. He will not have much to work with, and has to clean up the team that went 37-45  last season. A poor season for what seemed like a promising roster ended without the Knicks making the playoffs.

Acquiring Jackson was clearly a positive move for the Knicks. He has already made serious changes to this lackluster roster and staff by getting rid of coach Mike Woodson, whose poor coaching made the Knicks miss the playoffs for the first time in three years. To replace Woodson, Jackson hired former point guard Derek Fisher as head coach. Jackson will be taking Fisher under his coaching wing after leading him to five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers.

After hiring Fisher, Jackson suggested he wear all five of his rings when first sitting with the Knicks’ ringless best player, Carmelo Anthony. This small detail was one of many tactics used to seal the deal and keep Carmelo on the Knicks. Carmelo is changing and proving himself as a team player, taking $5 million off of his contract to help the Knicks pick up better players and formulate a more solid roster.

The New York Knicks are already looking like a better squad than they were last year, with Jackson making moves to promote chemistry that was certainly lacking last season. Jackson told ESPN he picked up on that, “Watching them play I saw guys that looked at each other like, ‘You didn’t back me up, you weren’t here when I needed help.’ There just wasn’t the right combination or feel (where) it felt like everybody was in sync all the time,” he said.

Jackson traded center Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks. In return for these two, the Knicks obtained guards Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, and center Samuel Dalembert. He also acquired two second-round draft picks used to obtain Clean Early and Thanasis Antetokounmpo. Losing one of the most overpaid centers and worst guards in the league for a six solid players was clearly favorable for the Knicks.

Newly hired coach Derek Fisher also has high hopes for the Knicks, stating in a press conference “My opinion is, based on our roster and who we’re going to become, we can compete for playing in the playoffs and playing for a championship in the Eastern Conference…When that happens, putting dates on it, that’s not my job.” Fisher has good reason to feel positive about the Knicks, considering the fact that one of basketball’s most intelligent men is spearheading their operations.

With Phil Jackson’s extensive basketball I.Q. and 13 championships under his belt, the Knicks are bound to be a championship contender in the coming years.

Choosing an Art Career? Ask School of Visual Arts

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Artists contemplate whether they should earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) at an art college or an academic degree at a typical university because some worry about the hardship of finding a job that requires having a BFA.  School of Visual Arts (SVA), ranked #12 on Business Insider’s “World’s 25 Best Design Schools’’, wants students to realize that there are a variety of professional careers in the art field.

Students at SVA can earn a BFA in film and video, interior design photography, etc.  The professors at SVA support these students’ journeys in pursuing an art career.

SVA’s mission is to provide its students with “undergraduate degree programs in art and design that prepare [them] for entry into an array of professional fields in or related to the visual arts, while also equipping [them] with the skills necessary to become productive and thoughtful members of society”

SVA provides its students the resources to become the artists that invent the world we live in.  People take the creative world we live in for granted and don’t realize the artists who create it.

Art students are given rigorous curriculum focusing in the arts and other classes pertaining to their major.  For a BFA in, specifically, fine arts, students must complete 72 credits in studio art, 30 credits in humanities & sciences and 18 credits in art history.   Each year students are required to take several types of fine art classes.

Some artists worry that a BFA wouldn’t get them a stable job after they graduate, but there are a lot of opportunities that require having a BFA.

Art student Alexandra Marguerite said, “There are numerous careers in the arts such as advertising, animation and graphic design and SVA helps students pursue their careers.”

Co-creator of Spiderman Steve Ditko, fine artist Keith Haring, and director of Ice Age and Rio Carlos Saldanha are some of the many notable former students who attended SVA and have prosperous careers.

According to Labor Department’s 2012 Occupational Outlook Handbook, there are more than 400,000 jobs in the arts, and most of them require having a BFA.  Art careers such as art directors can make as much as $80,000.

SVA’s Office of Career Development helps its students and alumni find jobs; it provides them with resources they need to build professional networks and succeed as creative professionals.  Students have the opportunity to attend career counseling and job fairs that link them to recruiters within the art industry.

SVA helps its students earn a professional degree in the arts and have a career after they graduate.  Art students at SVA will have the skills ready for a creative profession and learn to put their talent to good use. SVA wants these artists who are considered outsiders in our world to become more recognized through many artistic opportunities.

The C Doesn’t Stand for Clean

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Most New Yorkers would probably agree that if there was a cleaner alternative to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) train system, they’d take it in a heartbeat.  Anyone who has taken public transportation in New York have had the experience of riding in a filthy train. Unfortunately, this occurrence is a much greater issue than we thought. And it brings up an important question: Should riders have to pay what they do to ride in unsanitary conditions?

There have been numerous reports of cleanliness decreasing among train lines. According to the Straphangers Campaign’s surveys, 42 percent of trains checked in 2013 were clean, which is a ten percent decrease from the 2011 survey.  The worst of the lines was the D train, where a mere 17 percent of people considered it clean.

The MTA and the Straphangers Campaign both claimed that this was a result of fewer cleaning workers because of budget constraints.  In addition to fewer cleaners, Straphangers Campaign’s field organizer Jason Chin-Fatt believes that lack of cleanliness is due to increased ridership.  When approached by Metro News he said, “When ridership goes up, there’s more opportunities for people to spill coffee and food.”

The D train isn’t the worst of it.  The C train wins the award for worst overall service.  It was ranked last in the 15th annual State of the Subways Report Card.  It doesn’t stop there.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the C train “has finished dead last in the ranking six times since the rankings were first issued, the most of any line in the subway system.” Riders agree as well. “I live closer to the C but I take the Q. It’s faster and less crowded, and it comes more often,” said Roy Gabay, 48 years old, of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, who was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The C train service is so terrible that Straphangers Campaign ranked the value of a C-train ride at 85 cents, which is much lower than the $2.50 base fare set by the MTA.

The London Underground is one of the oldest subways in the world, yet it’s regarded as one of the best metro systems to date. Opened in 1863, the London Underground, (also known as “The Tube”) has air-conditioned cars and is fairly cheap in the expensive country.  It also has an 83% approval rating by the Straphangers Campaign compared to the New York Subway, which has a 75% approval rating. If London can keep a great metro system for over a century, why can’t the MTA?

London Underground subway car interior
London Underground subway car interior

The City Council pitched a proposal to fix our stinky subway problems back in 2012. “Let me make a suggestion to the MTA: We grade the restaurants, right? A, B, C. So we should grade all the stations in the MTA system,” said Councilman Peter Koo at a budget hearing.

As it turns out, the MTA does grade the stations on cleanliness, but does not share this information to the public. However, they have stated on their website that they plan on improving cleaning in several stations. According to the 2014-2017 MTA Financial Plan, it lists “Additional improved station cleaning at 10 heavily used stations/complexes in each borough” as one of their service quality improvements. Although its only 50 out of the 468 stations the MTA has in total, it’s a good place to start.

 

Aftermath: Closed Street, Open Campus

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A lady in her early 20’s lies sprawled on a bright pink lawn chair, catching up on her summer reading– in the middle of a New York City Street.

The Department of Transportation approved Baruch College’s proposal to close down East 25th street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues in late 2012. Two months later, in late February of 2013, Baruch College held a ribbon cutting in celebration of their campus’s newest addition. The new plaza had many doubters, but continues to prove to be successful as time passes.

 “The closed street lets me enjoy the break between my classes,” remarked Baruch College sophomore Jill Barclay, the owner of the pink lawn chair. The new plaza has ensured a place for students to gather after long, stressful hours of class. Freshman Daniel Dornbaum built on the idea explaining how “the plaza serves as a community center.”

Baruch president Mitchel Wallerstein commented in a New York Times article that the plaza is a “win-win” arrangement for the community. The community district is noted for having very limited outdoor space, so Baruch’s plaza not only serves students, but also the surrounding citizens.

According to DNAInfo.com, prior to the closing, the street was reportedly crossed an estimated 20,000 times a day– sometimes illegally. The jaywalkers, in a crunch to get to class, cut across the street submitting themselves to possible dangers. Since the plaza has been created, the possible dangers are no more. Students can now safely cross the street without checking for oncoming traffic.

Along with the newfound safety, students also have developed more school comradery. Baruch College has already taken advantage of the street turning it into a playground for a day, completed with a bounce house, for their annual spring fling.

The students can also be found doing collegiate activities across the plaza. With a simple  glance around one could find students digging into a book or getting homework done before class.

The plaza is just one of Baruch College’s many plans to modernize and and update their New York City campus. Facing the issues of space like most small commuter colleges, Baruch’s administration has shown promise in adapting to limitations and making the most out of small benefits.

The closed street allows for Baruch students, like Jill Barclay, and surrounding members of the community to be at peace in a mesmerizingly fast paced society.

FIFA: A History of Corruption

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As of June 2014, the 2014 World Cup is Facebook’s most popular event ever, generating 3 billion interactions on Facebook, according to the Mail Online. Even Americans, notorious for their indifferent attitude towards soccer, got into the World Cup madness. “Average U.S. viewership for all this year’s World Cup games was up by 39 per cent on 2010 games”, with “17.3 million viewers on ABC, 9.2 million on Univision and 750,000 people online,” the Mail said.

This worldwide enthusiasm has been great for the World Cup’s governing body, FIFA as it generated 2.36 billion dollars in 2014, according to Business Insider. But the increased attention has also comes with unforeseen consequences. Since the 2014 games, people are much more aware of FIFA’s gross and unethical practices.

Before the 2014 games, Brazil’s slums erupted in violence with police over Brazil’s hosting of the World Cup. Many Brazilians were furious over the government’s decision to spend 13.3 billion dollars on the games while around 1/3 0f Brazil’s population lives in poverty.

Included in the 13.3 billion is a 260 million dollar stadium in the town of Manaus, deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle. Due to the harsh jungle terrain the stadium was both expensive to build and almost impossible to use now that the World Cup is over. According to ABC News, the next use of the stadium will be on July 20th between two local teams and despite the 40,000 seats, “officials are hoping for 4,000 fans.”

Contrary to popular belief, Brazil will make very little money from their hosting of the World Cup. As reported in The Guardian’s article World Cup 2014: who’s cashing in, “ratings agency Moody’s estimated that the lasting effect of the World Cup on Brazil’s economy would be, approximately, nothing.” This raises the question, if Brazil isn’t going to benefit from the hosting the World Cup, is it worth it? For many countries, it is.

For many countries with developing economies, like Brazil, FIFA’s promises of economic benefits for hosting the games is extremely enticing. Unfortunately, these promises blind these countries leaders and often lead to exploitation.

In 2003, Brazil’s government passed legislation prohibiting the sale of all alcoholic beverages in football arenas. For years, Brazilian football games were plagued with extremely high death rates among fans. According to the BBC, “the ban was introduced as part of measures to tackle violence among rival fans and hooliganism.” But this potentially life saving legislation was changed in 2014, removing all mention of alcohol sales, just before the World Cup due to pressure from FIFA. Why? Wouldn’t FIFA want the World Cup to be as safe as possible? As always safety takes a backseat to profits.

According to FIFA’s website, Budweiser, one of the world’s largest beer companies is the official sponsor of the 2014 World Cup. Budweiser’s money, not the health and wellbeing of fans prompted FIFA’s General Secretary, Jerome Valcke  to address the Brazilian Congress, telling them,” Alcoholic drinks are part of the FIFA World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that’s something we won’t negotiate.”

Despite calls from Health Minister Alexandre Padilha and other members of Congress to keep the law, FIFA’s lies of jumpstart to Brazil’s economy were too good to refuse. The law was passed by Congress and signed by President Rousseff.

For most Westerners, living in nations with strong stable economies, it’s hard to imagine an organization like FIFA exploiting a nation like the United States or England. But for developing nations, this happens all the time.

For the past two games, FIFA has held the World Cup the developing nations of South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014. FIFA forces these nations to spend money they don’t have on stadiums they don’t need in return for money that they never receive. When June ends and the games finish, FIFA leaves and takes the money with them.

 

The Third Rate Game

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Dutch player Arjen Robben wants the third place playoff to be abolished.

          This past Saturday in Brasilia, the Netherlands defeated Brazil in the third place playoff at the World Cup. Although the players were 468 miles away from where they wanted to be — in Rio de Janeiro for the final — they undoubtedly felt worlds away.

           As is usually the case with these games that closely resemble exhibition games, the players and coaches had no interest in the match. There are exceptions to this, such as in 1994 when a fired up Swedish team easily defeated Bulgaria 4-0. But lets face it, Brazil, the country that has won more World Cups than any other country and paid millions of dollars to win a title on its home soil, and the Netherlands, who yet again came close to winning its first World Cup but fell short, had zero interest in 90 more minutes of football.

            If you don’t believe me, just listen to Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal, who is eager to get started coaching Manchester United and Dutch player Arjen Robben. “I think this match should never be played,” Van Gaal said. He went on to say, “After a tournament in which you’ve played so marvelously well, you go home as a loser just because you’ve lost the last two matches. This has got nothing whatsoever to do with sport.”

Robben was equally unexcited for the opportunity to claim third, “They can keep it. Only one prize counts and that is becoming world champion.”

 The only thing in common between Brazil’s humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany and the Netherlands’ crushing Penalty Kick shootout defeat by Argentina was the aftermath. Players on both sides were crying and probably wanted to think about anything other than soccer.

 The men’s basketball NCAA Tournament did away with its consolation game, and so did the NFL. The Euro Cup no longer has one. So why is FIFA so insistent in having this game? Many will tell you that it is tradition. But let’s not forget that FIFA really is just a business.

The third place play-off is one last marketing opportunity for FIFA. According to Soccernomics, a book written by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski, the Third Place Play-off gives a 4.9% boost to the World Cup’s television ratings. That is obviously hard to resist for FIFA.

George Black of the New Yorker magazine recently penned an article titled “The Third-Place Game Is Often The Best Game.” He cites that the games are more close and exciting than the finals.

 The problems with Black’s comments are obvious. A close game does not mean a better game if less is on the line. Most teams and their fans do not care about the match, so it may be closer statistically, but the excitement is taken away because they are playing for a meaningless prize.

FIFA constantly attempts to remind its fans that everything it does is for the better of the game. If that were true, it would get rid of a game that the players and coaches express every four years they have no interest in playing. Players can get injured and miss time with their club teams, and are less rested as well.

Right after the Dutch finished off Brazil Saturday, one look at the players involved in the game told the story. The Dutch players who had just won had smiles, but no excitement. Sure they were happy they had won, but most would have been happier had they been spending to be with their families regrouping for club action. Meanwhile, the Brazilian players were humiliated. As Van Gaal said, nobody should lose two games in a row after such a great tournament. Brazil’s awful ending to their country’s World Cup was now much worse. 

            This game needs to go and it needs to go now.

A Critic, Waiting for Life to Begin

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Rafer Guzman never expected to start out as a free-lance writer. Stationed in San Francisco, he commenced his journey as writer. Though lacking experience and references, he diligently submitted pieces of his work to local news sources, both online and print. He realized in order to get the credit and “respect” he wanted in the journalism industry, he’d have to start small but work extremely hard. Rock criticism seemed to be a great place start.

 

“Having lived for the 80’s”, he told a journalism class, it was easy to acknowledge his immense interest in records and concerts. He found himself reviewing shows and records that came out in the 80’s. He knew editors valued the youthful and modern critics due to their ability to scope out artists and shows that were prominent to the younger generation. He collected information about each concert and record and used it in his stories, hoping to give the public insight on the nature of each.

 

Being deeply infatuated with rock became exhausting for Guzman in his later years. “I got sick of covering music at 40 years old”, he says. “It was hard because I was usually out 3-4 nights per week traveling to Jones Beach or Madison Square Garden or Nassau Coliseum or the Izod Center Then on top of that it’s just you at these shows”. He expresses that attending concerts with crazed Miley Cyrus and Ashley Simpson fans had become played out and incredibly uncomfortable!

 

Then, just when it seemed like he’d been going through the motions, just when he thought his talents weren’t being utilized, he had an epiphany. Going to graduate school would give him the credentials, expertise and training to tackle the journalism industry with conviction and force. Columbia Grad Rafer Guzman was on the road to success with a resume full of references and new-found skills that he hadn’t obtained prior to his graduate schooling.  He landed a job at the Wall Street Journal with a focus on business news for 4-5 year duration. He knew he wanted to do more with his profession than solely business reviews, thus, he continued his search.

 

Guzman later discussed the moment that a rock critic position opened at Newsday. He sent clips from prior work he’d done and scored a job there. He commenced his journey at Newsday starting small. Any stories other critics didn’t want, he’d take up. “After a year, it was safe to say I’d done a dozen stories”.

 

Patience was truly a virtue for Guzman when Newsday had began buy-outs, offering money to workers who would leave. The entire film department quit. He saw this as an opportunity to take hold and truly shine in the film critics department. Eventually, he was the only film critic at Newsday, focusing on wide release movies such as Transformers and Tammy.

 

When asked about the impact his critic work has on society he informed us that Newsday, being a suburban and conservative paper, has a lot of Long Islanders who look to the news source for the perfect, “Popcorn entertainment on a Friday night.”  He mentions in the interview that he admires Newsday for its family oriented qualities. It provides the perfect dollop of sports news ranging from soccer to lacrosse. It specializes in appealing to all interests- one of the main reasons Guzman loves his place of work.

 

“I never get tired of watching movies”, Guzman, the Stanley Kubrick fan confesses. He also admits that it is fun to see “bad” movies.  His job requires that he see every movie that comes out in theaters, whether documentary, comedy, horror, action or drama film. He hints us in on his love for action movies. “…Its cinematic and lively”.   Screening rooms are where most critics go to view movies. He prefers the Half Public/Half Critic theaters. “It’s fun because your sitting with a bunch of critics who are really quiet,” Guzman says, “and then you have people from all over and you get to hear their prerogative of what we’re watching”.

 

Personal Preferences? X-Men, Guzman feels, are a masterpiece due to its relevance in bringing real world issues to the forefront. He applauds the efforts of directors of Disney Movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Tangled for bringing the theme of a female heroine, who for once, was the master of her own destiny. Movies such as these have motivated him to continue with his current occupation and have led him to fall in love with pieces of work that he views.

 

A current father of 2, Guzman loves his job as a movie critic and has earned his rightful place in the journalism industry. He worked tirelessly until a new position was opportune. Patiently waiting his turn, he did the work and ended up on top of the film critic department at Newsday. Rafer Guzman is a prime example of a critic who waited for the career he deserved and stopped at nothing to achieve it.

Uncovering The Truth – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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Sarah Darville, the acting bureau chief at NYChalkbeat.org, has both good and bad things to say about the education system in New York City. The news site focuses on educational issues in a number of states, but Darville works in the New York sector, writing solely about issues in the New York region.

Chalkbeat, Darville explains, is unlike most news sources. The non-profit organization has less of a focus on current news stories, choosing instead to focus on important long-lasting issues solely within the education system. Darville recognizes that Chalkbeat isn’t the source that most people would choose to go to for updates on current events, and that many people remain oblivious to the website’s existence; however, she doesn’t mind – Darville knows that Chalkbeat is important and impactful for those who are interested in what is happening with the education system, such as teachers, parents, students and anybody else who shows a particular interest in the matter.

Darville herself has spent a number of years working in journalism, having run her newspaper at Columbia, written for the Daily News, and worked on the Neiman Journal at Harvard.

Working at Chalkbeat, however, has proven itself to be an experience unlike any other Darville has previously had. She explains to a group of students that, “Chalkbeat is not a typical business. It’s run a little bit differently than other news organizations.” Darville also adds that because it is a non-profit organization she no longer has to fear being fired, which is quite comforting.

In discussing a number of her pieces, Darville makes an interesting observation that has guided her through one of her recent pieces about the principal at a Brooklyn charter school. She notices that there is a great amount of information that is readily available online, which a number of people seem blissfully unaware of.

Darville is especially proud of a recent piece of hers about a Brooklyn principal, whose résumé stated that he had previously worked as a Presidential advisor, and had been principal at a number of schools. Nearly everything on the résumé proved to be untrue, and Darville noticed that he received the job as principal despite the fact that simply Google-searching his name revealed this. Darville mentioned that it took her “ten minutes” to find all the information on him that she needed to write her article. She began to wonder why nobody had bothered to cross-reference his application.

She was also shocked to discover that the Brooklyn principal did not lose his job after being exposed in her article. Yet again, nobody on the board seemed to show any interest in the situation, although numerous parents were complaining. Situations such as these appeal to Darville: the ones that are shocking, confusing, or simply interesting. Darville is also adamant in noting that, “We write about good things too!” and that Chalkbeat also recognizes teachers or schools that have done good things.

There are both good and bad aspects of the education system, and Darville plans to address them all.

Sheeran’s Risk Brought Rewards

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“Everyone can have one hit, but the second one is always the make or break. Everyones watching this time.” -Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is regarded by his peers as one of the best singer/songwriters in the industry, and he has cemented such views with his second album, “X” (pronounced “multiply”).

After Sheeran’s first album “+” (plus) was released in Sept. 2011, it sold 42,000 records in its first week. Since then, Sheeran began to burst into the pop scene. He opened for artists like Taylor Swift, who praised him for his unique songwriting.

In the MTV special “Nine Days and Nights of Ed Sheeran”, released just a few weeks before his second record was released on June 23, 2014, Sheeran highlighted the necessity of achieving success. In the documentary, he explained how his second album would achieve success by becoming much more hip-hop based, yet maintain the same pop and folk characteristics many people loved him for.

Success was achieved when Sheeran sold 5 times more copies of his second album than his first album in the first week of sales . The 210,000 records he sold according to Billboard.com were enough to earn Sheeran his first No.1 album on the Billboard 200, and at only 23 years-old it appears like it won’t be his last No.1 album.

Sheeran molded his songs to mainstream culture without losing his unique appeal. He reached a new dimension with his second record by proving to people that his skills crossed through many genres, from rap to pop with folk influence. The 23 year-old’s acoustic sound offers a pleasant change from the auto-tune dominated market.

Ed opens up his sophmore album with “sing,” a song inspired by industry mogul Pharrell Williams, who believed the song’s upbeat lift could make people ”dance.” He was right. The song has already been Sheeran’s largest American hit, and is praised for being far different from Sheeran’s commonly criticized romanticized sorrow– exhibited throughout his first album.

In “X,” Sheeran attempts to build a holistic identity, testifying to the fact that his ill-guided love narratives are just a piece of the puzzle. Sheeran’s risks of tapping into other genres was gutsy but seemed to pay off, bringing people with different tastes to his music.

As the album progressed, the young fiery-haired British man showed off his spoken-word lyricism in “The Man”. Despite the glimpses of diversification, Sheeran finished in his comfort zone with songs like “Afire Love”, a tribute to his deceased grandfather.

Ed Sheeran’s second record proves his career is promising, especially if he continues to tap into different realms of the music world. Sheeran’s music insight led him to believe, “If you look at people’s careers, if their second record is as big or bigger than their first record, they’re a career artist forever.” If that’s correct, then career artist he will be.