"It's just what we needed coming out of a really weird, surreal era."
Ellie Goulding explains that her new album 'Higher Than Heaven' was consciously written to offer an escape from reality.
Work on 'Higher Than Heaven', which was released on April 7, began in the first days of the lifting of lockdown measures.
"It was such a unique moment and everyone was still trying to process what the hell had just happened, so we cracked open a few drinks and made music," Ellie Goulding, who collaborated on the album with Greg Kurstin, Andrew Wells and Stephen, told NME 'Koz' Kozmeniuk.
“We just had so much fun, but (because of the ever-changing restrictions) there was still that feeling that we were stuck. We didn't want to write serious songs, we wanted to write about silly things and dancing," he continued.
Ellie Goulding also said that early in her career, she would always take the same 10 songs into the studio and say 'I want it to sound a bit like him, and him', but instead 'it ended up not sounding like any of these artists, because my voice is too strange to possibly imitate anyone else."
For "Higher Than Heaven" though, "there's a lot of '80s influences, a little bit of The Weeknd, a little bit of Dolly Parton and a little bit of ABBA."
“It all comes together and that was the best thing about making this record – there really weren't any rules. We weren't trying to make a coherent whole," he noted.
Ellie Goulding also explained why she stated shortly before the release of 'Higher Than Heaven' that this is her 'least personal album'.
“That got people talking. I had done so many interviews that I started making up things about the subject matter of the songs. I just thought there's no point in doing that, so I cleared things up. ('Higher Than Heaven') doesn't really make that much sense," he said.
“I've done a lot of meaningful songs in the past and I had a hard time performing them live because they're so melancholic and sad. Right now, I don't want to sing those songs," he added.
"Higher Than Heaven" comes in an era where pop music has become mostly introverted and is often combined with indie or rock to give it an extra layer of supposed gravitas.
Ellie Goulding has said that releasing a pure pop album should feel like a risk, but she "hasn't felt any risk".
“Releasing music only feels like a risk when it's extremely personal. It's scary to put your life out there, it's scary to be vulnerable, and it's scary to show the world your weaknesses," she stressed.
“In the past, I've written songs about maybe being manipulative in a relationship and I've always felt anxious about getting so deep into my life. With this album, I felt a sense of relief. I don't have to wait for people to interpret what's going on in my personal life," she continued.
“This is the least pressure I've ever felt about releasing an album. I know people are already enjoying the music, so I can't think of a reason why I should be stressed,” he said.
Although "Higher Than Heaven" was written about "silly stuff", Ellie Goulding said happy music is important as "we forget that pop is about escaping".
“I realized that a lot of the songs that gave me joy when I was younger were the ones that made me want to move my body. I didn't know what the lyrics meant, but I was singing along anyway,” he commented.
"I didn't set out to make an album that people can dance to and forget their worries, it's just what we needed to do for ourselves coming out of a really weird, surreal time," said Ellie Goulding.
