What’s more fun than a game of Song Association? A game of Song Association with a glass of champagne.
Ellie Goulding sipped on a glass of bubbly as she sat down to play ELLE’s musical guessing game, and despite being under the tiniest influence of alcohol, she still landed a perfect score, 15 out of 15. Her responses ranged from “Staying Alive” by The Bee Gees, to “Glamorous” by Fergie, “Good for You” by Selena Gomez, “Fantasy” by Mariah Carey, “Love on Top” by Beyoncé, and her own songs “Burn” and “Easy Lover.” She didn’t skimp out on high notes and belts, either.
Goulding shared that she wrote “Easy Lover,” her latest pop hit, about five years ago, while she was working with producer Greg Kurstin and songwriter and artist Julia Michaels. “We decided to write a song about going back to the same toxic person, even though it’s really bad for you. I think it’s a tale as old as time,” she says. Relatable.
Between responses, the singer revealed she makes music for herself often, but “the music that my record label likes, that’s for others usually.” Don’t get her wrong; she still loves the genre. “I like to write pop music, so that usually means something that you know will work on radio and will be popular. I love the art of pop music,” Goulding says.
“And then there’s music I make that’s just for me, like my next single is something that I just really enjoyed making. Is it as radio friendly as ‘Easy Lover’? Maybe not, but you know, you gotta do that sometimes and I think my label [appreciates] that.”
After “Easy Lover,” Goulding teamed with Alok and Sigala for the collab “All By Myself,” then dropped the track “Let It Die” earlier today. Along with the new release, she announced her fifth studio album, Higher Than Heaven, arrives on Feb. 3, 2023 on Interscope Records. (Looks like we’re going to need more champagne!)
Goulding said in a statement of the song, “There was definitely a darkness about [the past two years] that was palpable in the studio, with everyone having gone through it differently. I think for that reason, nobody wanted to sit and agonize over some relationship or some drama. So that’s how this album came together. [Higher Than Heaven is] about being passionately in love. But it’s a hyper form of love, almost like a drug induced feeling. It feels almost artificial and there’s the potential for a crash.”
Pre-order Higher Than Heaven here and watch Ellie Goulding’s full Song Association video above.