The clever move of recording a stripped-back cover of Elton John’s “Your Song,” produced by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, for that year’s seasonal John Lewis advert exposed her to her widest audience yet and the song reached No.2 across the critical festive period, when album sales are at their highest. Songs like “I’ll Hold My Breath” and album closer “Salt Skin,” Lights’ most experimental moment wrapped inside its icy, electro-goth cloak, deliver a range and depth to the album that easily justified the plaudits critics had bestowed on Goulding earlier in the year. Alongside “Your Biggest Mistake,” a powerful midtempo electro-pop cut, it demonstrates on Lights how well Ellie can present a highly personal lyric in a universally accessible tune. “It’s about how you’d do anything and change absolutely everything about yourself if necessary, just to be noticed by this one person,” she said. Goulding said at the time it was the most personal and emotional song she had written to date. The gorgeous “The Writer” got a single release that August but now seems to be one of Goulding’s most underrated songs: a classic piece of songwriting that would have been seized on as a standard in an earlier era had it been performed by one of those MOR titans like Shirley Bassey or even Barbra Streisand. Supported by Goulding’s punishing schedule (including a slot at Glastonbury), Lights built a large audience across 2010 (in a burst of interest after those critical nods, the album had topped the UK chart on its release – and then the sales figures kept climbing). “Guns And Horses” was a brave choice for Lights’ third single, given that it was weighted away from the dancefloor, but it was indicative of the versatility that would characterize the singer’s output going forward.
Folktronica, perhaps, but that’s a label she would likely have hated even then. This synth-pop classic has all the essential ingredients of early-era Goulding: a credible dance production with euphoric folk overtones that liberate a gorgeous melody.
It was the perfect launch platform for “Starry Eyed” – Goulding’s first major UK hit – which peaked at No.4 in her homeland. She topped the BBC Sound Of 2010 poll, an early and hugely significant vote of confidence that was perhaps even bettered by winning the Critics’ Choice Award at the BRITs the same year.
Signed to a major label in 2009, Goulding’s first single, “Under The Sheets,” a confident slice of bubbly, contemporary pop, only made it to No.53 in the UK, but the buzz around her was growing louder. It’s not entirely accurate to say the campaign for Lights built slowly in a typical form there was something of an unstoppable momentum to it.
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