English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding has released her fifth studio album, Higher than Heaven, an escapist dance album that sees the singer going back to what she does best: chart-topping pop. The energetic 11-track album was released on 7th April and is the singer’s first album since 2020’s Brightest Blue. Higher than Heaven debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts.
“My new thing is acknowledging the things I’m good at, and I’m good at writing pop songs,” Goulding said in an interview with NME. “I’ve made a classical album, I’ve made electronic music and I regularly give my vocal away to producers like Four Tet. There are so many genres of music that I’ve been lucky to explore but when it comes down to it, I really just love making big pop songs that you hear on the radio.”
Work started on the album when the lockdown restrictions in the UK were lifted. She continued to tell NME that she didn’t “intentionally make an album that people can dance to and forget their worries” but it’s “what we needed to do for ourselves coming out of a really bizarre, surreal time”.
On the day Higher than Heaven was released, an ethereally nocturnal video for the track “Better Man” premiered that sees Goulding singing cast in pulsating red and blue hues. The video follows the two other music videos released for Higher than Heaven. Single “Like a Saviour” received a video in February and the title track “Higher than Heaven” received a video in October of last year.
Watch the video for “Better Man” below:
Originally the album was announced to be released in February but was pushed back as Goulding struggled to find suitable eco-friendly materials for the LP’s physical release. According to the singer’s Instagram post the vinyl is a “100% recycled colour compound which would’ve otherwise been wasted, in a recycled sleeve, and then wrapped in a renewable plant based wrap”.
The Herefordshire-born singer will embark on her tour supporting Higher than Heaven in October later this year. The 12-date tour, will start in Dublin and finish in Berlin in November. In the meantime, Ellie will be performing at sold-out venues across the UK and Europe this spring and summer. For tickets and more information see here.
In March, the singer’s collaboration with Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris on the trancey single “Miracles” earned the singer a position at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The song marked the artists’ third time collaborating having worked on 2013’s “I Need Your Love” and 2014’s “Outside” together.
For all of Ellie Goulding’s UK and Europe dates see below:
30/04/23 – The Queen’s Hall – Edinburgh
01/05 – The Wardrobe – Leeds
02/05 – Hangar 34 – Liverpool
04/05 – PRYZM – Kingston
05/05 – Engine Rooms – Southampton
15/06 – Fornebu Music and Arts Festival – Fornebu
16/06 – Pinkpop – Landgraaf
19/07 – Colours of Ostrava – Ostrava
12/08 – AIG Women’s Open – Walton on the Hill
02/09 – Olympiapark M Nchen – M Nchen
16/10 – 3Olympia Theatre – Dublin
18/10 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow
19/10 – O2 City Hall – Newcastle Upon Tyne
20/10 – Manchester Academy – Manchester
23/10 – O2 Institute – Birmingham
24/10 – Roundhouse – London
27/10 – Bataclan – Paris
30/10 – Tivoli Vredenburg – Utrecht
31/10 – Cique Royal – Brussels
02/11 – Fabrique – Milan
06/11 – E-werk – Cologne
07/11 – Huxleys Neue Welt – Berlin
