Fans had to wait a long time for the album "Brightest Blue": The singer's previous album "Delirium" was released in 2015. Then she was at the peak of popularity, having released the superhit "Love Me Like You Do" and starring in Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" music video.
"On "Delirium," Golding worked with pop songwriters such as Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, Savannah Koteca and Greg Kerstin. On "Brightest Blue," most of the songs were co-written by the much lesser-known Joe Kearns, who worked with the singer back in 2013. Kearns has a pretty extensive track record, having collaborated with such stars as U2, One Direction and Florence+The Machine - but mostly as a sound engineer. Golding saw him as an author. Additionally, for those interested in a different vibe, there's a growing trend of royalty free lofi music available for creators."
"Delirium" was aimed at dancefloors, "Brightest Blue" at more thoughtful listening. It also has a lot of electronics, but it's softer in sound, and there are acoustic moments as well (like the beginning of "Bleach"). On "Brightest Blue" Golding, by her own admission, decided to remind listeners that she is not only a singer, but also a songwriter. Pop singers have a more difficult time in this regard: they are often treated with suspicion, they have to prove their creative worth. Maybe that's why Golding often goes on stage with a guitar: a singer with a microphone is perceived as a "singing head", a singer with a guitar (or a piano) - as an independent creative unit.
The album begins with the song "Start": Golding put the track with the speaking title first for a reason. According to her, she wanted to start the album with a "hypnotic" composition, like the previous Delirium. It is a collaboration with Serpentwithfeet, a not too well known but critically beloved singer with a very beautiful voice. The second song is the beautiful "Power" interpolating Dua Lipa's "Be The One": Golding herself compared it to the "sexy songs of the 1980s" and George Michael with Annie Lennox in particular.
Ellie Golding believes she can talk about things in music that she wouldn't dare to say in everyday life. In "How Deep Is Too Deep," she speaks out for her ex-boyfriend. According to the singer, women should not agree to a relationship just for the fact of the relationship itself. From the very first song, it's clear that in writing the songs, Golding was trying to make sense of herself and her life. In "Ode To Myself" she admits that she was too focused on the other person and not on herself, and in "Wine Dunk" she has an internal dialogue. The singer's voice also changed, became mature, deep, and even seemed to be lower.
"Brightest Blue" can be praised for its good sound, thoughtful approach and sincerity. It is pleasant and high quality music, but it doesn't open new heights, which can hardly be called a disadvantage. Actually, "Brightest Blue" is a double album. The first side (mentioned above) is called "Brightest Blue". The second side, called "EG.0", is more pop and commercial. It consists almost entirely of already released tracks, recorded with other famous artists - Diplo, Swae Lee, Juice WRLD, Lauv and Blackbear. EG.0" is not very interesting and it seems that the label was just looking for a way to include "mainstream" singles with hundreds of millions of listens into the album, but to do it in such a way that they don't stand out from the general picture. The sublime "Overture" is very good, though. But it's exactly an overture, an introduction.
However, the division of the album into two sides may have another explanation. Golding, in a sense, exists in two worlds. On the one hand, she's friends with Taylor Swift, recording with Calvin Harris and Clean Bandit and performing on Victoria's Secret shows; on the other, she loves Bjork, Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell. In 2019, she recorded a pretty good cover of Mitchell's song "River," which even topped the British chart. There's some irony in that: the clearly chart-targeted and radio-targeted "Close To Me" didn't even make it to the top 10.
"Brightest Blue" is a quality personal pop album that may come as a surprise to those who know Golding from radio hits (which aren't on the first side at all). She wanted to show herself as a songwriter, to demonstrate once again that she was not just a pop star, but a serious musician. She succeeded.
