FEATURE:
Second Spin
Ellie Goulding - Delirium
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WHEN thinking of an album…
for this Second Spin, I arrived at the feet of Ellie Goulding. She is someone I listen to but would not consider myself to be a massive fan of. I feel that one or two of her album have been scored quite low and have not got the sort of exposure and acclaim as they should have. Delirium is definitely a case in point. It is an album where critics were split and there was a real divide. Some noted how Delirium is not the most original album – one that could been made by any other artist. In terms of its commercial performance, Delirium fared well. It debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK Album Downloads Chart. In Australia, Delirium charted at number three, becoming her second album to end up within the top ten, and her highest-charting album in the country. Released on 6th November, 2015, one of the biggest problems with Delirium is the number of studios listed. Goulding seems to have recorded every song in a new studio! There are a lot of producers listed for Delirium too. It is a problem that afflicts genres like Pop and R&B. You get so many cooks in the kitchen; one wonders how much of Ellie Goulding is in there. Maybe that is what critics noted: other people moulding her and making some generic and commercial, rather than individual and brimming with original personality.
One cannot fault Delirium for a lack of energy and bangers. One reason why I feel it warrants a new spin is because it has some great tracks in the mix. The singles Something in the Way You Move and Love Me Like You Do are among her best releases. Goulding co-wrote most of the tracks on Delirium. One can certainly hear her hand and voice in the writing. One can feel a different look and sound on Delirium compared to 2013’s Halcyon Days. More Synth-Pop than anything that had come before, it is a necessary and welcomed evolution and transformation. For those who feel the lyrical scope is narrow and Goulding did not bring too much in the way of substance and surprise, I feel people need to give the album another listen. It has a few weak tracks, though most of them are pretty solid. I want to bring in a couple of different reviews. There is one that is fairly negative, whilst the other is more positive. This is what CLASH wrote in their review:
“After winning the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, it quickly became clear that Ellie Goulding wasn't your typical popstar. Her songs sparkled and shimmered rather than bludgeoned you through the speakers, and she quickly won fans and plaudits.
However, as time has gone on, her idiosyncrasies have been stealthily expunged, and she's gradually morphed into just the kind of artist she initially seemed to be the welcome antidote to. Previous album, 'Halcyon', featured zeitgeist-chasing dance-pop in abundance, and then she went through the 2010s pop act rite of passage that is a guest vocal spot on a Calvin Harris club-friendly banger.
The main problem with this is that her voice is too wispy to hold its own versus the maximalist rave-pop of the day. Throughout 'Delirium', her vocals are often double-tracked in an attempt to circumvent this, but it largely fails, and the singing is forever fighting for attention amid a swamp of crashing beats and over-zealous synths.
On top of this, 'Delirium' just hasn't got the songs. If you like listening to fey exhaling over the same uninspiring backing track 16 times in a row, then you're in luck, but for the rest of us, it's a largely fruitless exercise. Put one of the singles on in a club at 2am when you've imbibed enough vodka to tranquilise a small horse and it's a sufficient distraction from the cruel realities of life. It's difficult to find anything else in 'Delirium' that'll make it worthy of your time though”.
I am going to wrap things up by sourcing from AllMusic. Whilst not entirely glowing, I feel that it is a little more balanced and fairer towards an album that has plenty of merit and positives:
“British chanteuse Ellie Goulding returns with her highly anticipated third studio album, 2015's expertly produced Delirium. Goulding's previous effort, 2012's Halcyon, was a hypnotically ambient, lightly experimental album that balanced catchy pop hooks with textural electronic soundscapes. While Delirium isn't devoid of this electronic atmosphere, it's somewhat more mainstream in its tone, and finds Goulding expanding her sonic palette with a melodically catchy set of more R&B-infused songs. Helping Goulding to achieve this are a handful of uber-pop producer/songwriters, including Sweden's Max Martin (Britney Spears, Taylor Swift) and Carl Falk (One Direction, Nicki Minaj), Savan Kotecha (Ariana Grande, One Direction), Greg Kurstin (Sia, P!nk), and others. Halcyon also benefited from a similarly collaborative approach, but Delirium feels less distinctly personal, bigger in scope, and brimming with a pressurized commercial energy. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Whereas Halcyon may have required several listens to grow on you, Delirium grabs you with immediately hooky, danceable tracks like "Something in the Way You Move," "Keep on Dancin'," and "Don't Need Nobody." Some of the more R&B-leaning cuts like the Police-meets-Rihanna single "On My Mind" seem at first like an odd fit for Goulding's highly resonant, throaty chirp of a voice.
That said, Goulding's voice has always fit well in the contemporary pop landscape and even when you get the sense that she's trying on someone else's sound, as in the CeeLo-esque "Around U" and the swoon-worthy "Codes" with its '90s Brandy-meets-M83 vibe, the sheer craftsmanship of the material alone keeps you listening. There are also enough passionately heartfelt EDM anthems, like the effusive "Army" and bubbly, Ibiza-ready "Devotion," to please longtime Goulding fans. Ultimately, it's the unexpectedly appealing combination of Goulding's distinctive voice and the melismatic R&B bent of the songs on Delirium that makes for such an ecstatic listen”.
With some positive reviews from some quarters and pretty big sales, Goulding’s Delirium is worthy of more investigation and airplay. I was aware of the album when it came out in 2015. I have got more into it this past week or two. One cannot listen to Delirium and remain motionless! It is an L.P. that compels you to move and raise your voice. Maybe there is not too much depth and enormous variation. It is Goulding’s performances and the way she commits to every songs that elevates Delirium from a merely promising album to a really good one. Even if you have not heard of Ellie Goulding, you can get a lot from Delirium. It would take her until 2020 to follow up Delirium. Brightest Blue gained positive reviews from critics. Many were impressed that she returned to the simplicity of her debut and 2012’s Halcyon. I feel Delirium is an album in her catalogue that maybe gets overlooked or is ignored. I would suggest people check out a…
VERY worthy album.