What’s the difference between the high life and your life? Acceptance, happiness, and understanding what you really want. “Beautiful People” is the new single from Ed Sheeran and Khalid that’s about staying true to what you love and avoiding the fascination with material wealth that eats us up inside when we see it pushed in front of our faces. In the accompanying video, we follow a regular couple, thrust into the lights and lavish of Los Angeles’ elite and their lifestyles. They soon find that what’s really important is the relationship with each other, not their proximity to fame and fortune.
Once our two protagonists exit the airport, they’re surprisingly picked up by an expensive car. They exchange-wide eyebrows and nervous glances and step in, immediately thrust into a new world, where exposed skin and body oil are norms and affordable living expenses are nightmares. They find themselves out of place, but otherwise enjoying a pool party where people of all shapes and sizes party under palm trees. They head to a fashion show, also attended by both Khalid and Sheeran, and monitor the catwalk with growing boredom, and they also attend a yacht party where they find more fun in playing sudoku than mingling with other people. It ends with the pair getting off the plane and walking over to a tour bus instead of another expensive chauffeur-driven car, content with what they have instead of the life that they thought they wanted.
“Beautiful People” is the latest taste of Sheeran’s forthcoming album, No. 6 Collaborations. It features the previously released “I Don’t Care” with Justin Bieber and “Cross Me” with PnB Rock and Chance The Rapper. The massive LP, set to drop on July 12, also features Cardi B, Camila Cabello, Travis Scott, Bruno Mars, and many more.
Watch the lives of a couple gone awry in “Beautiful People” up above.
