Ellie Goulding - "Higher Than Heaven"

For when you need to dance

I’ve said it before - Ellie Goulding is one of my favorite pop acts. Reliably, she has fun music. And really, that seems to be the entire point of this album: fun music. The entire album is composed of tracks with danceability through the roof. There’s no deeper meaning or arc that I can detect - it’s just celebratory.

Celebrations of love, of self, of healing…just really boppy music throughout.

Of course, that means that listening to all 16 tracks back-to-back, 52 minutes straight, gets a little stale and samey, even with the variety of interesting hooks and soundscape/topographical features utilized to make the tracks stand apart from one-another. There just isn’t a lot of top-to-bottom differentiation.

So while it is a hefty collection of great songs that can liven the mood at social gatherings, as an album, it leaves a few things to be desired. Best I can do is Teal for now.

Rating: Teal Green