So much has happened to Ellie Goulding since she last released an album. With 2015’s “Delirium,” she continued her ascent up the pop culture ladder with another collection of infectious songs. She was inescapable, catering songs for soundtracks like Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and having an equally buzz-worthy personal life. It was a period where all eyes were on her, eager to know what her next move was and, to put it simply, one would assume that it would be considered very overwhelming.
In an age where everyone has to churn out albums faster and faster than ever before, it’s interesting to note that Goulding’s post-Delirium Tour life was to take it easy. Her life had been a whirlwind of chaos, and to play it simple only revitalized her career. By picking up albums by singers like Joni Mitchell and Bjork, she began to find ways to be more personal. For the first time, her music could be reflective of her personal life in affirmative ways.
As one can guess, this allowed for several revelations to occur, reflecting on her own past mistakes. She noticed some inappropriate comments she made during the height of The Me Too Movement. She began to recognize relationships that may have been less than pleasant. There were things she finally began to recognize about herself that could be fleshed out and make her a more interesting artist. She wasn’t just going to release a ton of great yet meaningless pop songs. She was going to get personal.
Even if the album is predominantly a product of recent recording, some songs date back to 2017 singles that remained homeless. They were reflective of her charisma, her ability to mesh with other artists with a complimentary fluency. These artists included serpentwithfeet, Blackbear, Lauv, Diplo, Swae Lee, and Juice WRLD. Her world of collaborators suggested that her specific views on love and personal life were going to be just as trendy and radical as ever before.
Well, that’s only kind of true.
“Brightest Blue” is an album whose 18 songs are broken up into two sections. The first, “Brightest Blue,” is designed to reflect her abilities as an artist to write, sing, and produce her own music (she also plays several instruments on every song). This half tends to favor a quieter, more mature side of her pop sensibilities and gets to the heart of her maturity and growth. The second half, “EG.0” is the Side B that features most of her collaborations and Top 40 singles. This is where it’s more conventional pop, reflecting her at a more abrasive tone.
The two sections equate an interesting dynamic in what Goulding means in 2020. On the one hand, she’s still capable of collaborating on rap songs and improve them with flagrant choruses. There is still this energy inside of her to make music that’s appealing, able to be as inescapable as her biggest hits like “Lights” and “Love Me Like You Do.” She still remains vital as she enters another decade of her career.
Though it’s the first part where she feels most alive. This section has a clarity that makes her more personable, self-aware in such a manner that you begin to care about her capabilities as an artist. Every song feels like it is born from somewhere deep in her soul, capturing a woman who has experienced relationships and heartbreak in the digital age, where love feels a lot more complicated than simple highs and lows. What she brings with this portion is a more mature sensibility, reflective of her love of the balladry and heart-on-sleeve honesty of Joni Mitchell, but with a familiar fusion.
Everything begins, fittingly enough, with “Start.” Over the course of the song, Goulding establishes her independence from her lover. With trips to the liquor store, she begins to burn down bridges and start anew:
I was old when I was younger
All the lives I'm not living
Always trying to pull me under
Feel like I've been barely living
But I keep getting struck by the thunder
Maybe we don't need the bigger picture
What makes the song interesting is how much it rumbles, reflecting something subdued and quiet. Compared to her bigger hits, this feels like an invasive thought, letting us see her as a vulnerable figure What helps is that even within the conventional pop structure she’s presenting symbolism and allegories with such precision that it feels vivid. She is rejuvenated as every line reaches its end. This is going to be an album of self-discovery, and one that finds her growing more interesting with every line.
An early standout comes with “How Deep Is Too Deep,” which again details a toxic relationship. If "Start” was the conclusion, then this is somewhere towards the climax. The anticipation and frustration echo through Goulding’s voice as she tries to make sense of her boyfriend, who gets dressed around one A.M. and seems to be happier when he is ignoring her. The way that the song builds, finding the hurt growing with the harmonies, is a powerful tool that captures the musical equivalence of tears. As a woman trying to come to terms with her decisions, this is one of the more painful ones: being stuck in a loveless relationship.
That you’re doing nothing wrong 'cause you're doing just enough
Waiting for another one you don't have to love
You hold me so tight, say it's getting too deep for you, but
How deep is too deep?
As one can guess, the use of color throughout the album is symbolic of something personal. As mentioned in “Start,” what she is revealing is a prism of colors that are pure of herself. This is first indicated in “Cyan,” which serves as a short interlude, transitioning into the next phase of songs. During the shift, it goes from how Goulding sees herself in relation to others to something more insular, trying to find the self-respect. This could be reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s most acclaimed work, “Blue,” where she approached self-reflection with equal vulnerability.
In fact, it becomes clear what blue means when reaching the song “Ode to Myself,” which opens with a canvas metaphor, suggesting that she is still assembling an image of herself:
Paint spilling, blue blood
I look back with fondness
But where was my fortitude?
Delusion of that magnitude
Another standout is the song that follows. With the interlude serving as this poetic assessment, she returns to the conventional pop structure with “Woman.” Here she talks about something more fundamental to her personality. She is eager to find confidence and she does so by focusing on the strengths of her gender, her ability to not be defined by what the social contracts have forced her to follow. It’s among the most empowering songs on the album and her confidence shines through in her melodic delivery of lines like:
I faced my fears till I made it here
Now I don't know where to stand
But I know it's not over
If I'm losing touch
If I love too much
I'll just leave it up to chance
That's just the woman
That’s the heart of the album. This is what everything has been built around. Where the first half reflects grief, the rebuilding that comes towards the center of the album is the most impactful, creating an emotional center that is endearing. You believe her because, on an album that has embraced a more artistic flow, there’s room to be more transparent, reflecting herself not as a pop savant, but as someone who is still understanding herself. In the process, she is capturing aspects of life that are indicative of many of her listeners.
This is secretly brilliant also because “Tides” is the center of the album, and is very much so. Everything after the self-actualization is now going to be about her growing confidence, where she is in control of every decision. For as much as goofy songs like “Wine Drunk” inform something about her changing outlook, they’re all songs about independence that make her more approachable. There’s also plenty to love about the production, which plays to her strengths, making her able to emote while carrying a steadying soul underneath.
Ending the first section is “Brightest Blue,” which brings the color analogy to its conclusion with vibrant force. It’s clear that blue is meant to symbolize some form of calm, a relaxation that the whole album has been existing in. It’s an ocean of thoughts that are finally exposed in the sun, shining brightly for all of the world to see.
And with these
Colors fading, people changing feelings
Faking some kind of love
A different flavor, seek the danger
Feel new life rush into my blood
Illuminated, never shaded
See the future when I look in the sky
When I look in the sky
You give me, you give me
Like most pop albums, the eventual build to happiness is what makes these rides exciting. Even in comparison to artists like Dua Lipa or Jojo, she still manages to bring forth something more personal and honest amid these ideas. Every note is convincing and her style has such a focus that even if they’re some of the most achingly sincere songs in her career, they still feel like they’re capable of being played on the radio, embracing deep emotion within the pop realm. The best of songs will either make you cry or feel empowered. This is Goulding finding something more to say, and as a result, she’s transcended to her very best, making an album worthy of her inescapable reputation.
But wait, there’s more. “EG.0” still exists.
If you judge “Brightest Blue” based on the first portion, it’s a solid collection that finds a talented artist doing something new and innovative within her sound. If you apply “EG.0,” it’s an even stranger beast.
The five song stretch is still designed like the rest, presented with the musical interlude “Overture.” This is the portion that she didn’t personally write, and it’s easy to get that feeling listening to the songs. This is also where some of her biggest singles going back to 2017 have landed as if children at an orphanage. This may not entirely be an afterthought, but it still feels like it belongs somewhere else. It works because Goulding knows how to sell a good collaboration.
However, to use it with structural integrity may be an odd beast. The best that can be said is that this is the after-party, where all of the friends come over and have a good time. “Worry About Me” comes with vicious energy, eager to not worry about anything. Every song on here flirts with its edgy style, and Goulding fits in so perfectly that you can imagine an alternate world where this was how the album sounded, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It’s so much fun, presenting songs like “Close to Me” with such swirling energy that you understand her charisma. It all builds to “Hate Me,” which features the late Juice WRLD giving another infectious little verse, reminding Goulding’s ex that she won’t succumb to any hate that he tries to give her.
“Brightest Blue” is another refreshing album in 2020 that manages to find personal fodder as fun pop songs. At no point does the album really drag. If anything, it updates the confessional in exciting ways, making us see a performer who has had years of experience to draw from, making something more reflective of growth and risk, desiring to strike out with these odd little foibles. As a result, it’s one of the better albums of this summer. In a time when we’re all self-reflecting, this album has so much weight and insight that is worthy of listening to. It also gives you plenty of reasons to dance and enjoy the finer things in life. Welcome back, Ellie Goulding. It’s so nice to know that you are doing well.
Comments
Post a Comment