Ellie Goulding – “Delirium” (2015)

Label: Polydor Records/Universal

Review by Warren Mayocchi

“Delirium” is Ellie Goulding‘s third album. She is building on the success of her first two albums and has a reputation for a husky vocal delivery and an edgy-pop songwriting style. So her latest album has been anticipated by many. Part of the anticipation is sure to be because of the Fifty Shades of Grey song, “Love Me Like You Do”, which undoubtedly gained her many new fans. On Ellie‘s previous albums I particularly enjoyed the emotional quality present in her singing, and “Love Me Like You Do” contains that quality but bought it into a cinematic style. With this background I was interested in hearing what “Delirium” would deliver. After a few listens of the album it is clearly focused on the pop oriented influences from Ellie‘s prior music – not a bad thing, but it has come at a cost. The emotional quality I really enjoyed is barely present. The music tends toward the dominating drum beat surrounded by various electronic instrumentation. There are interludes with a more acoustic style on the song “Devotion”. “Army” slows the drum beat a little and includes softer instrumentation, this song demonstrates how Ellie‘s voice shines when given the space. “Lost and Found” and “We Can’t Move to This” are the better tracks on the rest of the album. The first single from the the album is “On My Mind” (not counting “Love Me Like You Do”), it mixes in a short guitar riff, but is indicative of what you will find on the album.

There is a deluxe version of “Delirium” with 22 songs, I listened to the standard edition that still comes with 16 songs. To my ears the song writing is not strong enough to carry so many tracks. Perhaps if the musical style had been more varied the album could carry that many tracks, but the tracks are all too similar. There is joy in the music, it is mostly pleasant to hear, I expect that it will receive adulation, but ultimately this is disposable pop music. After the excitement is over there is little to come back to, enjoy it for the thrill of the ride.

Rating – 71/100

Tracklist

1. Intro (Delirium)
2. Aftertaste
3. Something in the Way You Move
4. Keep On Dancin’
5. On My Mind
6. Around U
7. Codes
8. Holding On For Life
9. Love Me Like You Do
10. Don’t Need Nobody
11. Don’t Panic
12. We Can’t Move to This
13. Army
14. Lost And Found
15. Devotion
16. Scream It Out

Links

facebook.com/elliegoulding

twitter.com/elliegoulding

elliegoulding.com