FEATURE:
Don’t Take It Personal
IN THIS PHOTO: Ellie Goulding/PHOTO CREDIT: Nathan Jenkins
Ellie Goulding’s Higher Than Heaven, and Escapist, Joyous Pop
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NOT that it has always been the way…
but Pop music has become more open and personal over the past few years. That might seem like a generalisation, but I do feel more depth and vulnerability has come into the scene. This is needed, but I do think that there is something important about putting out joyous, simple, and impersonal Pop. Not that this applies to all artists but, if they have a child or go through a big event, eyes are on them to release something personal and emotional. Pop music at the moment has a lot of variety, so there is no judgement and expectation now for everything to be revealing and inward-looking. When Ellie Goulding announced her fifth studio album, Higher Than Heaven, people might have expected something that was very personal. Since 2020’s Brightest Blue – an album I recently featured – was released, she has given birth and gone through a lot of life changes. The pandemic has happened too - so you might have got an album that was quite mushy, dark, emotive, and cliché. There is nothing wrong with artists documenting struggles and personal fulfilment, but it can be quite serious and loses a lot of what makes Pop special. You can have fun and escapist Pop that has personal elements and depth (I am thinking of albums like Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and Charli XCX’s CRASH). The press have been very positive towards Higher Than Heaven. Goulding wonderfully revealed that her fifth is her least personal album. After the terror and struggle of the pandemic, she wanted to put out something that was fun and brings people together.
I am seeing a lot of well deserved four-star reviews for the album. I recently wrote how BBC Radio 1 have taken artists like Ellie Goulding off of the playlist. She is featured as a collaborator, but I do hope that she is back on the playlists as a solo artist, seeing as her latest album has a sound and vibe that is very cool and fits perfectly on BBC Radio 1 – though there is a chance that it may struggle to get into the mix. As of the date of writing this (7th April), she is not there as a solo artist, though other great female artists like Caity Baser, Lizzo and Lana Del Rey are included. I reacted to a report that artists like Ellie Goulding, and Rita Ora were being taken off of the playlist because they are seen as ‘too old’. BBC Radio 1 does feature female artists over thirty on their playlists. Lana Del Rey, and Lizzo as solo artists, and the leads of CHVRCHES, and Paramore are too. I am not saying they are ageist against all women but, if it is true that a few were seen as out of fashion or less relevant because of their age, then that is a damaging and concerning policy. In any case, Goulding warrants a place back on the playlists as a solo artist. I am going to expand more on escapist Pop. First, it is worth highlighting Higher Than Heaven. The Guardian reacted to Goulding’s declaration that Higher Than Heaven is her least personal release:
“Saying your new album is your “most personal yet” is the oldest pop cliche in the book. It’s an easy – or lazy – way to say that fans should be invested in your next record without telling them why, exactly; a tease that buying a copy of the album will get them ever-so-much-closer to the inside of their favourite star’s head. It’s a line used by the media as much as by stars themselves; a cursory Google of “most personal album yet” will bring up examples ranging from Adele to Stormzy to Post Malone. Sometimes, the descriptor is accurate – I would say that Lana Del Rey’s new album actually is her most personal yet – but often it’s what you deploy when you have nothing else interesting to say.
That’s why it was so charming when, at a Q&A earlier this week, British pop singer Ellie Goulding went on record to say that her forthcoming album Higher Than Heaven was her “least personal” album ever. “In the best possible way, this album wasn’t taken from personal experiences, and it was such a relief and really refreshing to not be sitting in the studio going through all the things that happened to me and affected me,” she said. “It’s the least personal album, but I think it’s the best album because I got to just explore other things about myself. I just really, really enjoy writing; really enjoy being a singer.”
This is a funny and knowing comment from someone who’s been through enough promotion cycles to recognise hoary pop cliches. It’s a breath of fresh air because, now more than ever, singles are treated like marketing tools for personal celebrity – commentaries that only really work in tandem with a media narrative”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Madison Phipps
I am going to come to a review for Higher Than Heaven. First, Rolling Stone interviewed Goulding to promote the album. It has been a couple of years of change and transformation for her. Higher Than Heaven is very different to 2020’s Brightest Blue. I do like the fact that, when many might have felt she would be more personal and awe-struck on her new album, there is a sense of frivolity, togetherness, abandon, and fun – almost like a return to her earliest days:
“This album process was a lot different from the last one. You mentioned before that you still didn’t know who you were with Brightest Blue. Have you finally found who Ellie Goulding truly is?
No, and I think I will never know, and I think that’s just how I am. We’re always striving to figure out who we are and figure things out through writing and through music… So no, I don’t think I do. But I’m happy in that place. I’m happy being in a place of curiosity and exploration.
I’m always searching for that. I definitely know myself a lot better now than the person I was when I was 20 years old signing a record deal and a publishing deal, suddenly thrust onto television in the UK, normalizing it. I’m meant to be doing this. But actually, my brain saying, “No you’re not. This is just mental. You can’t just go from university to suddenly just being on television, walking out my house being photographed. That’s not normal.” I didn’t ever really have a chance to process that. So the lead-up to Brightest Blue, I wandered around New York by myself for hours just thinking about everything that happened to me.
At least in that way, I feel like I’ve gotten to know myself a bit better. Maybe at some point I’ll know, but right now I don’t know what’s going on and I’m happy with that.
Finding yourself is a lifelong process. This new album just shows a very joyous and fun you though, which is very exciting.
There’s certainly something about becoming a mom that does make you explore yourself as a woman, even sexuality and all those things. I do feel like before I had Arthur — this sounds really strange, but I didn’t feel necessarily womanly. I just felt like a human that was going on stage and performing and I didn’t necessarily feel feminine or masculine. And then when you have a kid, there was something that just gets injected into you that suddenly you’re just this kind of power.
You just take this to another level of being a woman, realizing that you’ve just done this insane thing and then given birth to another human. That’s wild. Before that, I didn’t necessarily feel that kind of pull. And then on this album, I feel like there was a new kind of confidence there, in being a woman and sensuality.
Sabrina Carpenter sings, “Tell me who I am because I don’t have a choice,” referring to the tabloid headlines about her own life. I feel like that’s something that you’ve had to deal with too. Looking back at that now, how do you think you were able to grapple with that and find yourself after that?
“Tell me who I am because I don’t have a choice.” Yeah. British press likes a story. They sort of delve into your personal life. It’s like a fascination. You can sell millions of records, which I have, and they still focus on the other things that aren’t necessarily that relevant. But you know what, they have been sort of kind to me, so I can’t really complain too much. But you get really tempted to be influenced by other people’s sort of interpretation of who you are, what their perception of you is, their opinion on what you look like.
I think that the most shocking thing for me at the beginning was how much people cared about your physical appearance: your weight, your hair, your clothes, and also your opinion on things.
It was kind of a case of, “We don’t need your opinion, stick to what you’re good at kind of thing.” And at the same time, “Why haven’t you spoken up about this?” It was just like, I can’t win. I was not prepared to be scrutinized in that way. And I think the thing that has always kept me going is that I never got lost in that. I continued to, from the very beginning, play live shows, and play festivals, the things that kept me grounded. I could just escape that stuff”.
Despite the fact that Higher Than Heaven might feature more on BBC Radio 2 than 1 (or BBC Radio 6 Music) is their loss. The fact is that the album has been winning terrific reviews across the board. It is Pop music of the highest order. This is what The Line of Best Fit had to say about Ellie Goulding’s fifth studio album:
“Higher Than Heaven keeps it refreshingly simple. After 2015’s excellent but lengthy Delirium, 2020’s Brightest Blue tried to be too smart and walked away with a noticeable lack of exciting songs. Goulding’s newest effort goes in the opposite way – there’s rarely a moment to relax amidst the shimmering synths and electric vocal performances. In a bit of irony, the album’s finest moment might actually be one of its most low-key: the glossy vocal performance of “Love Goes On” and its brooding, hypnotic background instrumentation mixes to a dazzling, momentous effect.
But oh, the bops. In this category, Higher Than Heaven more than delivers. The album opens with a one-two punch – “Midnight Dreams” is a slick disco track, and “Cure For Love”’s playful and catchy chorus sings of self-preservation after a breakup: “Given too much, didn’t get enough / Sick but I’m getting started.” The bass on both “Like A Savior” and “Let It Die” is so nasty and propulsive, something that could have been pulled out of The Weeknd’s catalog, and the title track “Higher Than Heaven,” fittingly, reaches new heights vocally.
There are some times when it’s clear the songwriting wasn’t a priority, and the instrumental isn’t enough to bolster the song. The near-monotone delivery on the chorus of “By The End Of The Night” doesn’t pair well with ideas that sound plucked straight out of 2015, and album closer “How Long” introduces an unwelcome trap beat that doesn’t make sense with the rest of the album.
Ellie Goulding has successfully recalibrated and offers a fun, high-energy dance record with her latest offering. There was a rumour, now debunked, that the lyrics to the album were AI-generated; but if it were true, would it really matter? Higher Than Heaven is pure candy floss in the best way – little substance, but the sugar rush is so immaculate it ends up not mattering”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jorge Fakhouri Filho/Pexels
I am going to wrap up soon. I wanted to react to the acclaim around Ellie Goulding’s Higher Than Heaven. It does go to show how people react to Pop that doesn’t necessarily have to be deep, personal, and overly-emotive. There is definitely a place for that, but it is nice to hear an album whose objective seem to be to raise the spirits and get people dancing. Goulding brilliantly had to state that Higher Than Heaven was her least personal album, as I feel there would have been expectation for it to not be. Maybe she will return to a more personal course for her next album but, with new motherhood part of her life, why wouldn’t her new album be joyous?! There is some great and fun Pop out there, and I do hope that this continues. It is good to escape and have music that doesn’t have to be serious or revealing. At a very difficult time for all of us, we will gravitate towards music that has more of a smile and sense of urgency. Compared to past decades, Pop has lost a certain prolificacy of joy and escapism. Maybe that is good in some ways, but it does take away an element of fun and celebration. Let’s hope more artists such as Ellie Goulding refute the need to be personal all of the time and make Pop music that embraces us all. There is a distinct need for Higher Than Heaven and escapist Pop. That is pretty evident in the…
FANTASTIC reviews!