Ellie Goulding strives for mainstream status with new album
Drop it like it’s pop · Ellie Goulding returns for her third studio album, Delirium. For Goulding’s latest musical effort, the singer worked with studio heads such as Greg Kurstin, who has produced Adele’s music. – Photo courtesy of Polydor
After a string of smash hits, singer Ellie Goulding is back with the highly anticipated Delirium. The 28-year-old British singer’s breakthrough single, “Lights” was first released in the U.K. in 2010, but it took two years for the song to reach the top 5 in the United States. Since then, Goulding has received attention for singles such as “Anything Could Happen” and “Burn.” With her third studio album, Delirium, however, Goulding breaks free from her original image.
When the release of Delirium was announced back in September, Goulding said, “Part of me views this album as an experiment — to make a big pop album. I made a conscious decision that I wanted it to be on another level.” For Goulding, Delirium tried to achieve exactly that.
Delirium starts with one of Goulding’s most memorable hits to date, her Fifty Shades of Grey song “Love Me Like You Do.” Yet instead of flirting with indie pop and diving head-first into the world of EDM — where she’s had success alongside Calvin Harris — Goulding’s choice of partners in Delirium are some of the biggest producers in pop music. Greg Kurstin, who produced and co-wrote Adele’s comeback single “Hello” and Max Martin, the Swedish music producer behind some of Taylor Swift’s No. 1 hits, have credits on all but two songs. With the wind of the Fifty Shades of Grey backing her and the recruitment of the heaviest hitters she could find, Goulding attempts to reach mainstream pop.
“Aftertaste” opens up the album confidently with a fast- paced pop vibe complemented with drums and a repetitive chorus. It is a nice place to start, and plays right into what she has played over the years. The beat and thumping of “Around U” and “Something In The Way You Move” also feel right on track. However, it is noteworthy that “Something In The Way You Move” has a similar chorus to “Love Me Like You Do,” which could feel like a bit of a misstep, but Delirium does not feel like a careless album at all.
There is a more bittersweet drive on the lead single “On My Mind,” which stands out as an obvious attempt at a more mainstream sound. Goulding reveals her weaknesses on the empowering ballad “Army,” which sounds perfectly fine by itself but is the type of song that pop queens like Katy Perry could turn into a hit. That is the fundamental problem with Delirium — as Goulding attempts to take a shot at the A-list, she is competing with the same singers who use the biggest guns in the industry as their weapons.
Delirium’s mood is upfront. Granted, it is upbeat, but Goulding’s romantic propositions are realistic, unlike the adolescent and yearning questions that are prevalent in mainstream pop. With a track like “Codes,” the sentiment is clear. “Stop talking in codes / stop talking to codes / let me know what’s up / can’t do it no more / I need a love to celebrate,” she sings. In “Don’t Panic,” Goulding sings, “I got big dreams, baby / So don’t you overcomplicate it,” another example of her emotional maturity.
Goulding’s third-studio album manages to be cool and collected. It rarely hyperbolizes what love is. The last song of the album, “Scream It Out,” picks up after a few beats. The song summarizes Goulding’s attempt to lay out her emotions. “I’ve always had a thing for silence / But lately I just need a voice I recognize / Baby, it’s perfect timing now to … / Scream it out, out,” she sings.
Goulding has the formula for success with this third album, but she fails to reach her desired goal even though she did everything right — maybe too right. Her energy and ability to craft great dance music are still present but rebranded into something more emotionally tangible and real. If she is lucky, she won’t have to wait two years this time to achieve a hit.