Here in America, the late summer release of “Anything Could Happen” couldn’t come at a better time for the 25 year old singer/songwriter from Herefordshire. Goulding’s last single “Lights” may have been released to U.S. radio back in January, but it’s been steadily climbing the Billboard Hot 100 charts for the past few months, this week making it all the way to #2. The slow burning success of “Lights” (a song which I LOVE, but am starting to grow tired of) continues to transcend multiple Billboard Chart categories including On-Demand Songs (#1), Hot 100 Airplay (#4), and Hot Digital Songs (#8). While I’d love to see Ellie unseat reigning Billboard Hot 100 queen Carly Rae Jepsen next week, I won’t hold my breath. Still – seeing Ellie achieve this much success here in the States is fantastic! Better late than never America!
Ellie has been taking her time on this new record, which has been good for her career outside of the UK, giving her plenty of time to come across the pond and promote the hell out of “Lights.” On the new album, Goulding says: “This album for me is a journey from dark into light, from confusion to understanding. I didn’t set out to write a break-up record but I think it became one.” In a recent article on NME‘s website, Goulding is already thinking about her upcoming tour, telling the interviewer “The tour is going to be bigger for this record, and in terms of production, a lot more is going to go into it. It’s gonna be a bit more advanced this time as I think about it a little bit more, trying to be more clever.” YES! I have to say that, while I loved seeing Ellie live (TWICE!), the stage production was a bit lackluster. Sure, the focus should ALWAYS be on the music but production value does play into the overall experience for the concert goer. I’m salivating just thinking about seeing Goulding live again!
In July, Goulding released a free download of a new track from Halcyon, “Hanging On,” originally performed by Active Child, a US-based electronica artist. Goulding’s cover, featuring a rap by friend and collaborator Tinie Tempah, got so much initial attention that it actually crashed the SoundCloud server! Not only that, but “Hanging On” was the number one most blogged AND played track on Hype Machine during that week, racking up one million total plays/views on YouTube and SoundCloud. A companion music video was also released, which you can watch BELOW.
Also featured BELOW is the stunningly creative lyric video for Goulding’s new single, “Anything Could Happen,” which was created for and by the fans. Ellie’s dedicated fans were asked to send in photos via Instagram, which would then be incorporated into a sort of video collage. Boy, did they deliver! Over 1,200 beautiful and deeply personal photos were submitted and the end result is a poignant, ultra complementary lyric video.
The anthemic new single “Anything Could Happen” will be released August 21st, followed by Halcyon on October 9th.