Ellie Goulding is a complicated thing in a seemingly simple
package. On first hearing, she's a bright and shiny 22 year old
singer-songwriter, with her fingers on her guitar, her feet in a
night-club and her head in the heavens. But very few
singer-songwriters, young or old, can flip between dance-til-you
drop euphoria ('Starry Eyed ) and wistful, journeying space-folk
(s and Horses), between lyrics that talk obliquely about
ing around (Under The Sheets ) and those that pin-point the
love-hate relationship every leaver has about their home town
(Wish I Stayed). Very few can do all that and leave us, the
listeners, with enchantment, curious romance and, somehow, a
sense of vastness, of travel, of space and time, It's pop, Jim,
but not as we know it. Ellie's songs are built around big proper
tunes that lift you up and spin you round, yet there's something
off-centre about them, something sparkly, filmic, haunting, odd.
She mixes heartfelt emotion with other-worldly atmospherics,
spins cool electronica into dreamy warmth.
About the Artist
----------------
Having already conquered her native Britain with the
biggest and fastest selling debut album of 2010, Lights--
premiering at No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, four hit singles she
co-wrote, and a BRIT award -- singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding is
ready to make a similar splash in America with her sparkling
electro-folk-pop sound. Lights is, as the New York Times put it,
"a happy car c of signifiers: part electro-pop, part soul,
part blues, part indie rock, part folk" that mixes heartfelt
emotion with other-worldly atmospherics. Anchoring her songs with
acoustic guitar, Goulding and her producer, Starsmith, spin cool
electronica into dreamy warmth on "Starry Eyed," "s and
Horses," "The Writer," and "Under the Sheets."
"I'm not afraid of pop or electronic music," Goulding says of the
euphoric, dance-till-you-drop vibe of Lights, "but I also wanted
the album to embrace my love for folk music, not just by my
playing guitar on it, but by writing about things that have truly
affected me. I wear my heart on my sleeve and am aware of how I'm
feeling all the time, so it's impossible for me to write words
that are contrived or meaningless."
Goulding's lyrics are refreshingly direct as she chronicles the
highs and lows of love in her airy, gossamer voice. "Under The
Sheets" addresses ing around, while "Animal" revels in the
feverish state of falling in love. "The Writer" cops to her being
paralyzed with obsession over a lover. "I've gotten so many
messages from girls who can relate to `The Writer,'" Goulding
says. "I think anyone can get to the point where they love
someone so much that they just start doing ridiculous things,
like smoking or drinking, or dressing differently, I know I've
done it." "s and Horses" is about falling in love with someone
who doesn't really know how to love and wanting to take their
pain away. The album takes its title from the song "Lights,"
which is about Goulding's fear of the dark. "Having a light on
always makes me feel safe," she says. "It gives me strength,
which is why I named the album after that song."
Then there's the first U.S. single "Starry Eyed," which Goulding
describes as "one of those rare songs that isn't melancholy and
is actually a bit happier. I kind of throw everything to the wind
and say, `Who cares about emotions? Let's just have fun,'" she
says with a laugh. "I love sad songs, but I also appreciate
feel-good songs."
A self-taught singer and guitarist, Ellie was raised with her
three siblings in Hereford, a cathedral city about 16 miles east
of the Welsh border. After her parents divorced when she was
five, Goulding moved to the tiny rural village of Lyonshall with
her mother and her mother's new boyfriend, a lorry driver. "I
basically went from living in the city to suddenly living in the
countryside," she says. "At first I hated it, but I slowly grew
to love it and became completely fascinated by being surrounded
by all this wide open space - it still colors everything I do to
this day."
Money was ce, so Ellie shared a bedroom with her two sisters.
"It wasn't easy, plus there was the added stress of my dad
leaving, but I got along okay," she says. Her first memory of
becoming interested in music is wanting to sing the loudest in
her school's assemblies. "I was pretty quiet, but I really loved
to sing and would use my voice at any rtunity," she says. "We
couldn't afford lessons, so I learned by copying other singers,
like Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, and Celine Dion; I loved singers whose
voices were really powerful." Being a performer, however, didn't
seem like a real possibility. "It didn't feel like something that
could ever really happen, coming from my background," she says.
At 15, obsessed with bands like Deftones, Pearl Jam, and Rage
Against the Machine, Goulding taught herself to play guitar. "The
minute I could master actually strumming and singing at the same
time was when I started writing proper songs," she says. In her
teens, Goulding sang one of her own compositions for a family
friend, who encouraged her to listen to folk music. She soon
became inspired by such artists as Alison Krauss, Fleet Foxes,
Joni Mitchell, and Sufjan Stevens.
It was while studying Politics, English, and Drama at the
University Kent in Canterbury, where Goulding first found the
confidence to perform onstage after winning a university talent
competition. Gigs in London followed and soon Goulding was
looking for a producer to help her out her songwriting
ideas. She discovered Vincent Frank, a British electro-pop
musician and producer who goes by the name Frankmusik, and got in
touch with him via MySpace. "He listened to my demos and really
loved them, so we started working together and writing more
songs," she says. "I began getting more gigs and that's when I
realized I wanted to drop out of university to focus on music."
Goulding moved to London and locked herself in her room with a
guitar. Songs like "The Writer," "Starry Eyed," "Salt Skin,"
"This Love," and "Your Biggest Mistake," came pouring out. After
a friend sent a link to a MySpace page for Fin Dow-Smith, a
remixer, composer, and musician who works under the moniker
Starsmith, Goulding sent him a demo she'd done, which resulted in
a fruitful working relationship that continues to this day.
"Fin understood that it was pop, but a bit more emotional,"
Goulding says of Starsmith, who's known for his remixes of tracks
by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Passion Pit, among others. "I liked
that he was this really cool DJ with really fresh sounds, but
wasn't afraid of pop music. Working with him was when I started
to have faith in my writing and thinking something could actually
come of giving music a go."
The two began making tracks an album in the summer of 2009, demos
of which caught the attention of the major labels in the U.K.
Goulding signed with Polydor Records and released her first
single "Under the Sheets," which she later performed, along with
"s and Horses," on Later...With Jools Holland, a star-making
appearance that won her the attention of both critics and fans.
In early 2010, it was announced the Goulding had topped the "BBC
Sound of 2010" poll, which surveys critics and broadcasters for
their top choices for rising stars in the coming year. She also
won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 BRIT Awards (previously
won by Adele and Florence & the Machine). In February, "Starry
Eyed" was released as a single (climbing to No. 4 on the U.K.
Singles chart), followed by the March release of Lights, which
straight to the top of the U.K. Albums chart.
"I found out that the album was No. 1 while driving through the
countryside on my way home from a gig up north," she says. "I was
very emotional and, quietly, very proud. I felt like this was
just the beginning." And it was. More hit singles followed, "The
Writer" and a cover of Elton John's "Your Song," which climbed to
No. 2 after being featured in a Christmas commercial for British
retailer John Lewis. Goulding hit the road and sold out three
headlining tours in the U.K., and performed at numerous music
festivals, including Glastonbury, V Festival, and T in the Park,
earning rave reviews for her joyful, no-holds barred live shows.
Nominated for two 2011 BRIT Awards (for "British Female Solo
Artist" and "British Breakthrough Act"), Goulding is gearing up
for the Stateside release of Lights. "I'm really excited to come
to America and visit new places and see new countryside," she
says. "I feel ready to introduce my music and see what people
think of it there. I'm hoping they'll like it and be inspired,
the way I was when I first heard certain artists. I want to
create that excitement you get when you've discovered something
special and feel happy to have ever come across it in the first
place."
