Ellie Goulding has had enough of being ‘that girl who sang (X super-famous EDM track)’ without anyone knowing her name. She’s done with her remixers getting more attention of her tracks than she has.
Like nearly every uber-popular indie star swimming in cred and commercial potential, she’s swinging for the Billboard fences on Delirium. It’s hard to say whether she hit or miss — pop itself is quite hit-and-miss, largely based on just how regurgitated the popular stuff is at the time.
So, maybe this LP, lyrically tackling all the angles of romance and nights on dance floors you’d expect in EDM, accomplishes its goal. However, the copy-of-a-copy-ad-nauseam factor doesn’t please too much overall for any but the most diehard of pop-heads. Weirdly, as off-putting as that makes it, you oddly hope it succeeds out there.
‘Intro (Delirium)‘
The instrumental opener has the ambience of either a Sigur Ros track or a quieter parts of the Game of Thrones soundtrack. Some might even say it’d fit a death scene for an Italian mob movie—bullets whizzing by, some 50-something goodfella crying “Frankie!!” — anyway, it’s a solid intro:
[Instrumental]
‘Aftertaste‘
The ambience continues from the preceding intro track, unfolding into a world-influenced dance groove made famous in plenty of 80’s hits so hot these days, plus some “drunk-in-love” metaphors, even a Miami Sound Machine-esque percussion solo. Goulding meditates on the fact that, no matter what happens in life and love, there’ll be a bittersweet “aftertaste:”
‘Something in the Way You Move‘
Femme Michael Jackson time. The chorus’ two-note melody will has yet to get pop’s typical over-saturation treatment, so there’s no telling whether the track will stick yet. This one has the clichés necessary to break into the Top-40 pack, as well as a pretty straight-ahead EDM sound:
‘Keep on Dancin’‘
Dancy pop track about, well, dancing. Goulding’s voice is slowly starting to adopt some of Lorde’s mannerisms, such as her rasp on lower notes. It’s pretty straight-ahead Moombahton, and, so far, every track on this this supposed ‘pop-crossover album’ has hinged on some form of EDM:
‘On My Mind‘
The main guitar lick sounds like a sped up version of the main riff from that one Maroon 5 song that was already trying to sound like The Police (but not quite as much as that one where Bruno Mars straight up tried to be The Police). However, as the “got you on my mind” puppy love track then dives into a trappy chorus that, while catchy, has way too much sidechain compression:
‘Around U‘
Bleepy bloops, pitched down echoes, the “hey!”s and occasional borrowed vocal melody of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” etc. Even with all of those grasps at the arena circuit, there are lines that don’t rhyme when they should smack dab in the middle of the chorus, and the whole thing just isn’t quite that catchy:
‘Codes‘
Goulding needs some clarity, and shuns her “boy” for “talking in codes.” There are more “hey!”s, and the same exact clap builds we’ve heard thousands of times before. It’s always disappointing when promising indie-dance stars feel that crossing over requires going only where everyone has gone before. It actually reminds somewhat of later Paramore in that respect:
‘Holding on for Life‘
Reusing a few OneRepublic melodies (which were likely already picked up from somewhere), Goulding “hold[s] on for life” to a bunch of other phrases that we’ve all heard to sum up “those perfect nights” out that are the lifeblood of EDM. She goes for the tambourine boom-chuck to portray this emotion, possibly due to the lyrics’ quest for nostalgia trips:
‘Love Me Like You Do‘
Finally, the “50 Shades” hit. The one that’s already blown away pop audiences, and you inevitably at least heard coming out of a stranger’s car speaker, if not intentionally. It’s definitely the catchiest track so far, so it makes sense. “Love me like you do,” whatever that may mean, certainly doesn’t fit the movie’s abusive vibe, though:
‘Don’t Need Nobody‘
Goulding don’t need no man — except for whomever she pines for here. She sings it in a fresh, off-kilter triplet rhythm on the chorus, but the track still centers around the intro’s synth bass, a close mimickry of Robin S’ “Show Me Love.” It really is the album’s “realest” track so far, though unfortunately:
‘Don’t Panic‘
(Electronic) barimbas are fun! They add a newness to all of the other pop tropes here (even though I’ll always associate the sound with Dan Deacon first and foremost). Calling out our collective cell phone addictions also gives a modern spin, but that’s been done enough before (and likely better). We also get some Passion Pit-ty background chipmunks, and they “hey!”s have become “yeah!”s:
‘We Can’t Move to This‘
Ellie’s dumping her “boy,” and the only official/correct way to do that is to dance without him. He didn’t show her enough love and attention, and “she’s giving [him] up tonight.” When the tracks fail to excite, they can always depend on the whole “is this one about Ed Sheeran?” tabloid appeal, though. It’s always plausible, since generic dance anthems rarely focus on breakups:
‘Army‘
Speaking of “breakups,” this one talks about overcoming them—it’s a ballad where Ellie’s man here acts as an “army” at her side. It’s chill, catchy, not as offensive or clichéd as previous tracks (even when the full chorus comes in). It may be the sleeper track that sneaks its way into a lower-budget soundtrack:
‘Lost & Found‘
Mumford’s bass drum (and arguably acoustic guitar) mix with a dance pop-ification of Coconut Records‘ “West Coast” on the verses—chords, dropped beats, and all. The “hey!s” are also back in full force. It seems to be her ode to homecomings and, of course, the almighty power of “tonight,” the magical time and place where “nothing will (ever) bring us down:”
‘Devotion‘
The “Show Me Love” synth sound returns, and Goulding also borrows the melody from The Police’s “Message in a Bottle” (the “SOS” part). Some of the following lyricism about showing yourself warts and all makes for decent dance-floor love, but it all dives further south with some gratuitous autotune and dubstep wubs at the bridge:
‘Scream it Out‘
You can’t wrap up an EDM-pop album without a half-time backbeat track about “scream[ing] it (all) out” over the trustiest set of chords for the radio since the dawn of American music. This could easily be the album’s next single, if it isn’t already. And while it doesn’t bring anything new to the table, at least “scream[ing] it out” is something worth getting behind:
