Brightest Blue / Ellie Goulding / July 17, 2020
- Joshua Yoo
- Jul 23, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 13, 2020
At this point in time, this type of album makes sense for Ellie Goulding. Her fourth studio album “Brightest Blue” is more contained and reflective than her previous work, still reserving space for the soaring pop anthems that she’s built her name off of, but also toning the theatrics down and attempting to put on a candid face. And while there certainly are moments of emotional potency, a lot of it ends up falling by the wayside to the disorderedness of the album.
The album is split rather unevenly into an A-side and a B-side (EG.0), the former being the individual bulk of the content, and the latter being a small segment of mostly pre-released collaborations; however, sonically the project is really divided into three parts. The first leg consists of these grandiose power jams, with soaring vocals and momentous instrumentals that feel like Goulding’s strong suit (“Love I’m Given”). But behind the immensity and volume of these tracks is a fair amount of forgettable songwriting (“Power) and impassive vocals (“Ode to Myself”).
The second leg of the album strips back some of the heavy layers of production, Goulding covering more sobering themes with more straightforward instrumentation. It’s a style not heard from her much before, but she manages to convey her sentiments with quite a bit of heart on some of these emotional ballads (“Woman”). Lastly, the handful of feature tracks on the EG.0 side of the project are each individually respectable (more or less), but together they form a very disconnecting end to the album, providing no real cohesive worth.
The attitudes of taking control and self-empowerment speak clearly throughout the tracks from Ellie Goulding and it’s great to see and hear. But unfortunately the unifying message is bogged down in the often distracting disunity of the album.
Best Track(s): Flux, Love I’m Given, Woman, Slow Grenade
Lowlight(s): Worry About Me, Start, Power
SCORE: 5/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcV0SvIDjAA
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