INTERVIEW: Ellie Goulding The Bright Lights

Although she’s toyed with music since childhood, Ellie Goulding never took her singing or songwriting too seriously - until last year, when she snaffled herself a surprise record deal. That’s partly because, as a kid, her mum used to beg her to tone down her tone deaf, off key warbling.

“Yeah, my mum used to tell me to be quiet whenever I sang,” Goulding recalls. “She’d say, ‘oh, Ellie, please don’t do that, it doesn’t sound very good.’ It’s fair enough, because my singing was pretty bad back then. Really, music wasn’t an obvious thing with me - it was gradual.”

“I think that’s why I kept so quiet about it,” she adds, explaining why she didn’t tell family or friends when she joined a band, at 16. “I suppose I just didn’t want people to know I was writing songs, or wanted to sing.”

Goulding admits her passion for songwriting would have remained unfulfilled had it not been for two life changing episodes. The first was entering a talent contest on a whim while at University, studying Performing Arts. When she unexpectedly won, singing a few covers, Goulding was inspired to write her own songs. The second catalyst was hearing Frankmusik on MySpace.”

“I was blown away when I heard his stuff because it was so different, so vibrant…that’s why I approached him about doing some songs together,” she recalls. “Luckily, he was interested, so I went over and played him ‘Wish I Stayed’, which he recorded.”

Re-energised by Frankmusik’s deft retouching of the track, Goulding contacted another whiz kid producer, Fin Dow-Smith (a.k.a Starfish), to re-jig more songs. The result was exhilarating, electro pop treats like hit single ‘Starry Eyed’ and ‘This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)’, a teasing tale of infidelity, as well as the mesmerising ‘Guns And Horses’, which kickstarts her sassy debut album.

Thirsty for more? The full interview features in the June/July issue of Rip It Up magazine.