Ellie Goulding and Her New Album: Halcyon

Ellie Goulding is a very talented artist in the midst of what I feel is somewhat of a desert when it comes to pop music. I think I’ve already ranted on that in earlier blog posts, so I will spare you my thoughts on certain artists of today’s pop music that really have no vocal capacity at all. But like I was saying, Ellie Goulding is a gem in this realm. I never had really listened to much Ellie Goulding before either. I was first exposed to Ellie Goulding when she rolled out with her hit single “Lights”. This song was pretty awesome and was remixed an insane number of times especially by dub-step artists. While dubstep covers were an unfortunate take on her song, “Lights” really shot Ellie Goulding to instant fame and the mass population probably knows her from that one song. I thought she was one of those one-hit wonders like Carly Rae Jepsen or Rebecca Black for a while. All of a sudden, a couple of days ago, this new song appears on my Pandora station by Ellie Goulding and I loved it. So I checked out her latest album Halcyon.

I’d like to introduce Ellie Goulding to you in the same manner I first listened to her. This was through “Lights”. This song, although it was extremely overplayed by the radio, rocks. When I got my new iPod, one of the first songs I downloaded was Goulding’s hit single. It incorporates everything of a fantastic song. It has pretty polished vocals in my opinion with meaningful lyrics. The vocals are also accompanied with some pretty catchy beats and just the right amount of a constant soft electronic sound that adds depth to the musical arc throughout the song. This song was almost like a hook for the general population to become exposed to Goulding. And it sure worked on me. I’m a fan because of this song and the music video is pretty catchy too:

Okay, now for some more current Goulding songs. Her latest album is named Halcyon. Halcyon is actually a synonym for calm which is an interesting title for her newest line of music. I haven’t listened to the entire album (although after I finish writing this, I’ll hopefully be able to go back and listen to more) but skimmed over it so that I could highlight the main songs that appealed to me. Halcyon is a pretty well-rounded album and shows that Goulding is pretty versatile as well as an artist. Halcyon also revealed Ellie Goulding’s voice without much auto-tune in certain songs. I was able to gain that much more of an appreciation for the vocals. She has the soft tone and passion of Taylor Swift with the hip side of Calvin Harris. I’m also going to be posting the lyrical videos from YouTube so that you can see the songwriting as well.

The first song that stood out to me and got me started on more Ellie Goulding listening was “Anything Could Happen”. There is an amazing hook at the beginning and the introduction once again grabs me and slowly builds suspense. I noticed that in most of her songs she has a great “musical arc” that climaxes in a pretty passionate part. This song really combines her talent vocally with pretty catchy beats and melodies in the climactic section of this song. While it gets a little repetitive when building to the climax I think this adds some flavor and zing to the suspense. This song also has lyrics with strong meaning that I like while mixing in with some talent musically. Check it out, if you haven’t heard it before, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised:

This next song is another home run from Goulding’s new album. Right off the bat (ha no pun intended) I feel a different aura coming from this song than other Goulding music. The piano at the very beginning provides a strong gateway to the entire song. It starts off rather hip and techno and carries throughout the rest of the song after her initial intro part. This techno adds a new spice to her pantry of musical genres and techniques. Being a fan of these electronic sounds in vocal-oriented songs, “I Need Your Love” is amazing to my ears. I was amazed at the combination of lyrics, sick counter melodies and overall style of this song as compared to others on the album. It starts out energetic and never stops throughout the entire song. I also find it funny the way she pronounces the word “can’t” because she’s British. This is my favorite Ellie Goulding song so far!Check out this rockin' song:

I’m going to post one more song at the bottom of this blog just to show you the versatility of Goulding. Although “Explosions” doesn’t really appeal to my musical tastes, I think that it offers basis for conversation over Goulding’s ability to adapt to a mass variety of musical styles. I think it’s awesome that she can write a techno song and a slower softer song in THE SAME ALBUM. “Explosions” is very much simplistic, especially at the beginning and sounds more like a choir solo performance. But, see what you think. Overall, I am stunned at the pure ability of Ellie Goulding. She really is a talented artist who is releasing strong music. And that’s all we can really ask for. Anyway, check out “Explosions” below: