Still, even when the songs here evoke other hits, they’re still bangers in their own right.Īnd Goulding’s signature vibrato and energy make even the more trend-chasing songs on the album fully hers. The bubbly, 'I’m sticking to you like glue' doo-wop of 'Around U' feels particularly out of place among Delirium’s darker, deeper tones, playing like a better fit for Meghan Trainor than Goulding. 'Keep on Dancin’' is a more minimalist sibling to Adam Lambert’s Martin-produced hit 'Ghost Town' and while 'Something in the Way You Move' might be a mighty fine song in a vacuum, Selena Gomez has already done it with 'Me & the Rhythm'. Elsewhere, she inches back to her dance music roots on the sultry house-leaning 'Don’t Need Nobody' and the marriage of a scratchy acoustic loop with techno on 'Devotion'.īut while the best tracks here are the ones that transcend and build on pop trends, a few others merely copy them. TION or Taylor Swift’s 1989, with gushing vocals and Moroder-kissed synths on tracks like 'Codes' and her Fifty Shades of Grey song 'Love Me Like You Do'.At times, the record exists in the same '80s-pop wannabe universe as Carly Rae Jepsen’s E

While Halcyon was a dark collection that flitted between club-ready synth-pop and soulful, orchestral ballads, Delirium dives head first into the former with confidence. And Goulding, who went from being famous only in the UK to performing at the White House, very much deserves at this point in her career to have a third record fit with all the big pop trimmings. But after flirting with indie dance, then Calvin Harris and Starsmith-produced EDM, Goulding is adding some Swedes to her arsenal for Delirium: Max Martin, Carl Falk, and Peter Svensson, to be specific.

Delirium ellie goulding album songs