Benjamin Lozovsky

ALSO: See more photos from Ed Sheeran's show at Mercury Lounge

Better than: Finding a Sugababes album in the 99-cent bin.

British pop stars have had something of a rough go when trying to break America, despite often working with much better material than much of what's on the charts over here. The sacking of poor Cheryl Cole from The X Factor in favor of the personality void that is Nicole Scherzinger is but one of the recent examples of Brits getting the short shrift; the runaway success of Adele could be seen as kind of an exception to this rule. (And even then she's an outlier; her songs are slower than much of pop radio's neon-hued, club-ready offerings.)

The latest Brit to attempt a crossover to this side of the Atlantic is Ed Sheeran, a young redhead with a penchant for hip-hop and a knack for writing lyrics that distill stories to their essence. Last night he played the Mercury Lounge armed with just an acoustic guitar, a bunch of looping pedals, and, most importantly, a goofy yet self-possessed charisma that had him quoting Lil Kim two songs into his set, splitting up the crowd for a successful singalong on the next song, and ending the night in the middle of the crowd, spinning around and singing while standing on a chair and holding the audience rapt.