Album Details
- Album Title: Brightest Blue
- Release Date: July 17, 2020
- Recording Dates: 2017 - Early 2020
- First Single: "Close To Me," out 10/24/18
- Second Single: "Flux," out 2/28/19
- Third Single: "Hate Me," out 6/26/19
- Fourth Single: "Worry About Me," out 3/13/20
- Fifth Single: "Power," out 5/21/20
- Sixth Single: "Slow Grenade," out 6/30/20
- Full Tracklist:
- Start (feat. serpentwithfeet)
- Power
- How Deep Is Too Deep
- Cyan
- Love I’m Given
- New Heights
- Ode To Myself
- Woman
- Tides
- Wine Drunk
- Bleach
- Flux
- Brightest Blue
- Overture
- Worry About Me (feat. blackbear)
- Slow Grenade (feat. Lauv)
- Close To Me (feat. Swae Lee & Diplo)
- Hate Me (feat. Juice WRLD)
- Expected Sound: Return to sound of Halcyon; more personal and vulnerable; similar to sound of "Flux"
After releasing Delirium in fall 2015, Ellie Goulding took a bit of a break before starting on her 4th studio album. In summer 2017, she was already working on new music, and revealed that it would mark a return to the sound of her sophomore album, Halcyon. She shared numerous studio shots on Instagram over the months and through 2018.
In October 2018, Ellie shared her first single from the upcoming album: "Close To Me" with Diplo and Swae Lee. She released two more album singles in February and April 2019, starting with the ballad "Flux" and then moving to the nostalgic "Sixteen." Ellie also shared three soundtrack songs - "Do You Remember," "In This Together," and "Hollow Crown" - though none of those are expected to appear on her album. After sharing an acoustic version of "Sixteen" in June, Ellie shared a new song called "Hate Me" featuring Juice WRLD.
Although we have four official singles so far, we still don't know the upcoming 4th album's title, release date, or tracklist. Ellie promised info would come in January 2020, but it was March when she announced and then released "Worry About Me" featuring blackbear.
Finally, May 2020 brought official news. First we got solo single "Power" on May 21st. Then, on May 27th, Ellie made the announcement: Her album Brightest Blue comes out on July 17th. It comes in two parts, featuring 13 songs on Brightest Blue and an additional 5 songs on EG.0.
A month later, Ellie ended June with one final new single: "Slow Grenade" featuring Lauv. It got a lyric video on July 3rd.
In fall 2019, Ellie stated that no collaborations would appear on the album. However, that plan has since changed. Brightest Blue includes 5 collaborations: 1 on Side A and the remaining 4 on Side B, EG.0. Unheard song "Love I'm Given" made the tracklist, but "Electricity" did not (at least, not under that title). Several released songs from 2019 also did not make the cut ("Do You Remember," "Sixteen," "In This Together," "Hollow Crown").
Get ready to hear Brightest Blue on July 17th! You can pre-order it now.