Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed

Believe it or not I was ahead of the times (yea, I know) and this young lady is now looking like she is going to have a very good/mainstream year, with loads of coverage already and The Brits Critics' Choice Award already. I wrote this in September 2009...

The year of the ladies may well carry on into 2010 with new acts such as Ellie Goulding emerging from the background. Currently supporting fellow electro-syth sister Little Boots on tour, it does not look as though it will be long until Ellie will experience the commercial success Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Pixie Lott have recently enjoyed.

Ellie’s welsh accent is notably present in her music, adding to her kookiness and separating her from the generic female pop star, coupled with her use of synths and acoustic guitar. Keen to transcend genres, perhaps to help get herself noticed, Ellie is also not afraid to collaborate with and cover other artists. Tracks on her MySpace include a cover of Passion Pit’s ‘Sleepyhead’ with backing vocals by a suspiciously sounding Calvin Harris character and a collaboration with Frankmusik on ‘Wish I Stayed’, a track which an American musician has already covered.

Radio friendly ‘Starry eyed’ is a perfect display of what Ellie Goulding does best, her sweet romantic lyrics audible over the delicate music. It is easy to sing a long to the chorus without even realising, with the frequent repetition of the “woahs”. The music does justice to the painfully dulcet lyrics about being caught out by love: “Handlebars, never let go, let go for anyone/Take me in and throw out my heart and get a new one.” Ellie portrays a sugary innocence of the rapid hurdle into the fascination of another person, by the reference to childhood and fun “Fall headfirst like paper planes and play ground game.”

With a milder pop than some more ‘out there’ artists like La Roux, Ellie Goulding’s heartfelt pop is not to be dismissed. However, still developing her sound, this genre may change into a more controversial and less commercial sound, as she comments: “I'm into finding different ways of expressing my songs. That's why in the coming months I'm going to be working with dubstep people, electro people and folk people.” She also explains the cross genre she currently channels “I like playing with sounds and synths, mainly because I get bored easily."

Ever changing, you can catch starlet Ellie Goulding and see which faze she is in right now, whilst she supports Little Boots on tour in October. The tour starts on 21st October in Northampton at Roadmenders and finishes on the 31st at Bristol University. With Concorde II in Brighton already sold out on 22nd October, it looks like the singer songwriter may be on her way to the mainstream.