When Goulding’s vocal chops take priority over the song’s production are the album’s highest peaks, ensuring her talent despite the general misstep of the record.The new Ellie Goulding album, 'Delirium', is extremely long. It has moments of greatness, but the majority of its incompetence is a direct result of its lyrical base, production or mismatch of the two. The screaming is purely lyrical rather than audible.ĭelirium isn’t the album Ellie Goulding will be remembered for. “Scream It Out” only builds itself to an inferior version of Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song.” The commitment to the chorus is absent. It isn’t great, but maybe it will build into something stunning and truly worthy of a high-profile pop album. Just as I’m getting over the non-balladness of “Devotion,” the first chorus of album closer “Scream It Out” offers me hope. The instrumental intro gives hope, but almost immediately is layered under an - albeit not bad - sheath of synth, which is ultimately ruined by the cheap dance floor echoes at the end of the chorus. The lyrical work is set up for a Christina Perri-esque ballad to remind everyone of Goulding’s raw talent. “Devotion” sounds like it should’ve been Delirium’s much-needed ballad. With two tracks remaining, it’s possible to see Goulding’s talent and sound come through with a strong finish. It’s somewhere between four toddler-sized Ellie Gouldings and the representatives of the Lollipop Guild. The island vibe of “We Can’t Move To This” is a welcome introduction into the album’s landscape, but that is all destroyed by the mixing of Goulding’s voice in the song’s chorus. However, as most of the album’s contenders for radio popularity are plagued by their similarity to a boom box that was knocked off a table, “Don’t Panic” further brings Goulding’s sophomore LP down. The former is a deep track of the album, known only to those who holistically love Delirium. “Don’t Panic” and “We Can’t Move To This” are bad news on a new album. However, at this point, (I wrote about it 10 months ago) it feels like old news on a new album. Goulding’s delivery hooks in listeners immediately, and it builds sonically and emotionally with each chorus and verse, ultimately leading to the explosion of the final chorus. “Love Me Like You Do,” as shown by its success, is a good pop song. It might just have people thinking about who their “Army” is. Delirium also hits its lyrical target in “Army.” At first listen, it isn’t anything special it still succumbs to exhausting repetition, but lyrically, it’s touching, idealistic and honest. The out of place delivery of the chorus’s first line is saved by the immediate change in pace. Goulding’s expert pacing isn’t as muddled with auto-tune, and it’s that minimalistic sound that entices listeners into the first verse and over the cliff of the chorus’s debut. While that content isn’t overwhelmingly interesting, at least it’s enough to actually warrant a complete song. Echoed moments where the auto tune diminishes leaving Goulding’s raw sound are a pleasure, but the random repetition of certain lines in verses distracts from the lyrical content. “Around U,” while mildly repetitive, has moments of clarity, that showcase Goulding’s talent. It’s auditory overload and a distraction in and of itself. The verses offer cohesive content through a fresh rhythm however, the chorus effectively consists of the phrase, “I don’t need nobody, need nobody but you” manipulated and morphed through auto-tune, moving the sound between Goulding’s and maybe her angry alien counterpart. “Don’t Need Nobody” is the final song crippled in the name of repetition. Instead it regurgitates the same line with the same enthusiasm one would muster for a root canal. The chorus had potential - building with semi-consisted rhyming of “night,” “fight,” “ignite” and “light,” it sets itself up for a booming Calvin Harris-esque bass drop. In its final verse, the track goes as far as to repeat its title 15 times. “Holding On For Life” follows the same pattern. And even though it’s the most repetitive of the album’s first quarter, its polished sound and catchy highlights the inferior aspects of preceding tracks “Aftertaste,” “Something In The Way” and “Keep On Dancin.’ ” “On My Mind,” the strongest of the album’s first four tracks, repeats the lyric “Why I got you on my mind” 28 times in three minutes and 33 seconds. Following an out-of-place intro, the majority of the 16-track LP consists of mediocre pop songs with choruses almost exclusively consisting of one or two phrases.
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