Album Review of Ellie Goulding’s Brightest Blue

The English singer’s name is perhaps still most commonly associated with her synth-pop hit ‘Lights’, which put her on the charts back in 2010. It’s hard to believe an entire decade has passed.

That is, until you hear the newly released, much anticipated Brightest Blue, her fourth studio album and the first one since 2015’s Delirium.

2020 Ellie Goulding is nothing like what we’ve known and loved so far. She is mature, honest, vulnerable, yet more empowered (and empowering) than ever.

Brightest Blue consists of two parts — one, Ellie confirms, is written entirely by her (she plays some of the instruments herself, as well) and is heavily influenced by classical music, though with a modern twist; the other part is a compilation of songs Ellie collaborated on, some released as far back as 2018, as well as a few brand new ones. This side, called EG.0 with reference to Ellie’s alter ego, features guest vocals from Blackbear, Lauv, Diplo, Sawe Lee and Juice Wrld.

The first part of the album takes you on an emotional ride. It’s full of blending genres, vocal effects and bold experiments. At times it sounds like an old movie score — in the best way — and then brings you back into the present with a modern R&B beat.

The production in most of the songs is much more minimal than Goulding’s past work. It leaves space to highlight her vocals, which are powerful when it’s called for and quiet and raw in just the right places. The beats won’t fit into a dance club setting the way most of Ellie’s chart toppers do, but they make you want to move nonetheless (perhaps more emotionally than physically).

One aspect of Ellie Goulding’s new sound that cannot go unnoticed is the songwriting. Goulding has always written her own songs, but something about the songs on Brightest Blue makes it clear that her lyrics have evolved immensely since her last album.

Goulding’s music has always been about the beat, the catchy melody and the vibe. Though her words told stories, they were vague, hidden under murky metaphors and overshadowed by easy rhymes and cliched repetitions. In other words, her old lyrics worked with her old sound, but no one quite knew what exactly she was singing about.

Brightest Blue is a whole other story. These lyrics are mature, more honest. They tell about relatable, real-life situations in a simple, yet captivating way.

You can hear how much Goulding has grown, not just in the words she sings, but the way she sings them, enunciating more clearly and being more careful to ensure that we hear and understand exactly what she wrote.

The album’s theme and new sound clearly reflect a transformation that Ellie herself has undergone in the last 5 years. Her lyrics are about re-birth, about rising up after an uncertain period. They’re about healing old wounds, growing and changing for the better. “I am not locked in my bones. I've been changed forever. And it makes the love you're given change too” reads the poetic interlude ‘Cyan’.

Brightest Blue opens with ‘Start’, a moving, emotional ballad featuring the ambient vocals of Serpentwithfeet. The verses feel more like poetry, with words often spoken out of rhythm because the importance of getting them out is greater than whether or not they fit the pattern. The song packs a great deal into just over 5 minutes — a minimal R&B beat, tones of jazz in the chorus, formant changes that keep the song modern and a consistent build up that eventually arrives at an intense outro.

Serpentwithfeet is the perfect addition to this track. His sound is an unpredicted mix of 6lack and Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley, with a touch of a Middle Eastern vibrato to his voice. Together with Ellie, they’ve created a calmly powerful journey through the emotions of change.

The album’s title track is reminiscent of Goulding’s second album Halcyon, with its long synths and upbeat rhythm. The lyrics remain strong however, and Ellie manages to fit them into speedy pre-choruses with what sounds like no effort at all. The choir-like voices in the background keep it powerfully propelling forward, while the Daft Punk type vocalization in the outro adds a light modern touch.

‘How Deep Is Too Deep’ is the epitome of today’s pop. Minimal production and intimate vocals introduce the song before a simple catchy melody takes over in the chorus. If you’re not singing along by the second chorus, you must be having a really bad day.

Ellie shows her indie rock side in ‘Love I’m Given’, which makes you want to clap and stomp around as if you’re singing Serena Ryder’s ‘Stompa’. Don’t be fooled, however, by the head-bobbing – the lyrics sound like they belong in an emotional power ballad, with Ellie singing “I feel a change in the love I'm given, I'm turning the page on my indecision”.

‘Ode to Myself’ is a short dream-like track filled with soulful guitars and atmospheric reverb.

It’s refreshing to hear Ellie playing guitar in ‘Bleach’, much like she did with the demos and covers released in the pre-Lights era.

‘Tides’ sounds like it came straight off of Delirium, and it’s the one song that disrupts the ethereal energy of the rest of the album, but since it’s been so long since Ellie released music of this kind, it almost serves as a nostalgic reminder of the old days. Not a bad thing at all.

“Woman” could be mistaken for an acoustic version of a more upbeat song — a great choice on Ellie’s part. Her voice shines here, as does her songwriting. “Free-falling through the photographs that paid my bills. I'm done listening to another man's music” she writes.

Goulding experiments with her R&B side in “New Heights”. The breathy vocals and minimal production in the start of the song are reminiscent of an Alina Baraz or Sabrina Claudio track (in more than one instance, it feels like 6lack is about to come in with a verse). The rest of the piece showcases Ellie’s gentle falsetto and powerful belt, making for an emotional rollercoaster of a song.

Brightest Blue also includes previously released ‘Power’, ‘Flux’ and ‘Sixteen’, as well as Ellie’s latest collaborations in ‘Worry About Me’, ‘Slow Grenade’, Close to Me’ and ‘Hate Me’, creating a nice roundup of her work over the last few years.

The new album is Ellie Goulding’s best work to date. It mixes the sounds of her three previous albums and leaves only the most heartfelt and captivating elements. It blends together everything that’s great about pop music today and compliments it with notes of classical music, R&B vibes and powerful lyrics. Hopefully, this new Ellie Goulding sound is here to stay!