Rating: 5/5 stars
Ellie Goulding (“Brightest Blue”) released “Higher Than Heaven” on April 7 through Polydor Records. The album was originally announced in October 2022.
It is her first album in three years, since “Brightest Blue” (2020), Goulding has been featured on songs, but has not written or released any personal songs.
Goulding’s music revolves around electronic and pop elements. The subgenre fuses synthesizer-fueled electronic music instrumentation with the radio-friendly sound and hook-heavy songwriting of pop music. This is a genre of music that combines elements of indie rock and electronic music that gives a club feeling within the song.
The cover art of the album alone is beautiful, as she floats in water giving the illusion of weightlessness. Her translucent outfit makes her seem like a mermaid in the ocean carefree.
The song gives that feeling of floating the clouds, swimming in the rays of the sun, with someone else. This song has an uplifting poppy energy, the kind of music you head bump in the sun with the windows down. “Higher Than Heaven” sounds like a smooth techno beat but with a deeper meaning behind the words.
Some notes in the song give the feeling of store or elevator music. Department store workers would love the song, but get sick of the repetition. But, with the repetitive lyrics and sound, it has a very calming aesthetic vibe.
This song, like all Goulding songs, tells a story, the feeling of two people in love within the moment together. If you have ever felt the urge to stay in the honeymoon stage and not wake up from a dream, this song is for you. With her silky voice, going effortlessly gliding through the notes keeps you entranced. It gives the energy that takes you back, like you have heard before.
The beat and lyrics are catchy, keeping you tapping along quietly or loudly singing along being in the moment and feeling alive. Makes you wanna stop where you are and dance in the sunshine or the rain and truly feel the music.
Goulding’s song helps one to focus on that one person or thing that gives you that higher-than-life feeling. The message of her being brighter than the sun by their side and heis the sun. She continues the theme of heaven and being taken higher, creating heat with someone.
Being in someone’s arms and holding onto them, just going with the moment and enjoying the feeling of not knowing where you are going and forgetting the past is the aesthetic woven throughout the song.
“Higher Than Heaven” can turn out the world and is an upbeat song that you can dance, sing or workout to.
Image from Ellie Goulding via Twitter
