Delirium (Ellie Goulding album)

Delirium is the third studio album by English singer and songwriter Ellie Goulding, released on 6 November 2015 by Polydor Records. Music critics were generally impressed by the overall production of the record, although they were ambivalent in regards to its originality. It debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, earning Goulding her highest-charting record in the latter country and her highest first-week sales figures in both territories. The album spawned three singles: "On My Mind", "Army" and "Something in the Way You Move".

Background
Goulding has stated that the sound of the album is more pop-oriented than her previous releases. Speaking in an interview, she said: "A part of me views this album as an experiment, to make a big pop album; I made a conscious decision that I wanted it to be on another level".

Singles
"On My Mind" was released as the album's lead single on 17 September 2015. The song received positive reviews and performed well commercially, reaching the top 10 in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Army" was sent to Italian radio on 15 January 2016 as the album's second single. The song was released to contemporary hit radio in the United States on 19 April 2016.

The third and final single from the album, "Something in the Way You Move", impacted contemporary hit radio in the United States on 19 January 2016.

Other songs
"Lost and Found" was released on 23 October 2015 as a promotional single from Delirium. During the week before the album's release, several radio stations premiered different tracks from the album. "Don't Panic" premiered on Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show on 31 October 2015, while "Keep On Dancin'" debuted on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show on 2 November 2015.

The album includes Goulding's song "Love Me like You Do", which was originally released as a single from the soundtrack to the 2015 film Fifty Shades of Grey and became a commercial success worldwide. The deluxe edition also includes Goulding's collaboration with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, "Outside", released as a single from his 2014 album Motion. The North American deluxe edition contains Goulding's collaboration with American electronic music trio Major Lazer (also featuring American-Jamaican singer Tarrus Riley), Powerful, released as a single from their 2015 album Peace is the Mission.

Critical reception
Delirium received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Peter Robinson of Q remarked that the album "seems to enjoy pushing pop's boundaries, and six years into her career feels like Goulding's first true superstar moment", while noting that her "nuanced lyrics steer Delirium away from homogeneity". Michael Cragg of The Observer wrote that the album "goes straight for the pop jugular, unleashing a relentless barrage of bangers that almost always hit the spot." Matt Collar of AllMusic opined that "it's the unexpectedly appealing combination of Goulding's distinctive voice and the melismatic R&B bent of the songs on Delirium that makes for such an ecstatic listen." Eve Barlow of Spin commented, "Finally, [Goulding is] embracing the responsibility to provide stone-cold tunes without pretense", adding, "Perhaps she's finally come to terms with playing in the major leagues because she's sussed out the sweet spot between pop homogeneity and experimentation." Despite criticising Goulding for copying pop trends and stating the "darker, deeper tones" may have been "a better fit for Meghan Trainor than Goulding", Pitchfork's Hazel Cills commended the singer for her "evocative storytelling and ability to craft great dance music".

Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone compared Goulding's change in musical direction to "the country-to-pop transformation her pal Taylor Swift pulled off with 1989", stating that "[t]he songwriting on Delirium doesn't always feel worthy of her ambitions, but Goulding is technically peerless and versatile, maintaining her power and flare throughout and crushing every glassy jam she's put in front of." Similarly, Mark Allister of PopMatters pointed out the album's "rather limited scope of lyric subjects" and concluded, "Goulding's sound has gained an even greater sheen and expectations have grown, and we'll see, in the coming months, whether Delirium is the big album that Goulding is aiming for." Entertainment Weekly's Kyle Anderson viewed Delirium as "too well-constructed and honestly ambitious, and the tracks that land in Goulding's comfort zone [...] rank among her best work. But the album also fails to elevate Goulding to her desired plateau, ultimately making it a narrow and sometimes frustrating miss." Matthew Horton of NME felt that "[t]here's something disappointing about [the album], however undeniable the quality of material." In a negative review for Clash, Joe Rivers expressed that Goulding's voice is "too wispy to hold its own versus the maximalist rave-pop of the day. Throughout Delirium, her vocals are often double-tracked in an attempt to circumvent this, but it largely fails, and the singing is forever fighting for attention amid a swamp of crashing beats and over-zealous synths."

Commercial performance
Delirium debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK Album Downloads Chart, with 38,429 copies sold in its first week, marking the biggest first-week sales of Goulding's career so far. In Australia, Delirium charted at number three, becoming her second album to land within the top 10 and her highest-charting album in the country.

In the United States, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with 61,000 album-equivalent units (42,000 in pure album sales), earning Goulding her highest-charting album yet. As of February 2016, the album had sold 117,000 copies in the US.

Sample credits

 * "We Can't Move to This" contains elements from "It's Over Now", as written and performed by 112, which itself samples "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)", as written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of Delirium.

Musicians

 * Ellie Goulding – lead vocals (all tracks); backing vocals (tracks 10, 18, 20); live percussion (tracks 18, 20)
 * Joe Kearns – keyboards, programming (track 1)
 * Chris Ketley – string arrangements (tracks 1, 16, 19); choir arrangements (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Everton Nelson – violin (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Emil Chakalov – violin (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Richard George – violin (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Jenny Sacha – violin (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Sarah Tuke – violin (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Max Baillie – viola (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Emma Owens – viola (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Ian Burdge – cello (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Chris Worsey – cello (tracks 1, 16, 19)
 * Greg Kurstin – bass, drums, guitar, piano, keyboards (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 16, 19)
 * Ryan Tedder – backing vocals, guitar, instrumentation, programming (track 4)
 * Noel Zancanella – instrumentation, programming (track 4)
 * Ilya – backing vocals (tracks 5, 9); guitar, bass, keyboards, programming (tracks 5, 7)
 * Max Martin – keyboards (tracks 5, 9); programming (tracks 5, 9, 13); drums, percussion, bass (track 9); backing vocals (tracks 9, 13, 15)
 * Fred – instrument arrangements (track 6); programming, synths, percussion, drums, keyboards, backing vocals (track 12)
 * Jenny Schwartz – backing vocals (tracks 7, 13)
 * Jeremy Lertola – backing vocals (track 7)
 * Sam Holland – backing vocals (tracks 7, 13)
 * Savan Kotecha – backing vocals (tracks 7, 9, 13)
 * Annabel Williams – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Bobbie Gordon – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Hayley Sanderson – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Lloyds Wade – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Joshua Hayes – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Simone Daly-Richards – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Janet Ramus – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Dawn Joseph – choir (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Ali Payami – programming (tracks 9, 13, 15); drums, keyboards, bass (tracks 9, 15); percussion (track 9); backing vocals (tracks 9, 13); guitar (track 13); synths (track 15)
 * Mattias Bylund – strings, string arrangements (track 9)
 * Mattias Johansson – violin (track 9)
 * David Bukovinszky – cello (track 9)
 * Peter Carlsson – backing vocals (tracks 9, 13)
 * Oscar Holter – backing vocals (track 9)
 * Robin Fredriksson – backing vocals (track 9)
 * Mattias Larsson – backing vocals (track 9)
 * Oscar Görres – backing vocals (track 9)
 * Ludvig Söderberg – backing vocals (track 9)
 * The Struts – programming, drums, bass, keyboards (track 10)
 * Peter Svensson – programming, drums, bass, keyboards, additional backing vocals (track 10)
 * The Wolf Cousins Royal Choir – gang vocals (track 10)
 * Benjy Gibson – drums (track 12)
 * Emmanuel Franklyn Adalebu – drums (track 12)
 * Doris Sandberg – backing vocals (track 13)
 * Cory Bice – backing vocals (track 13)
 * Silke Lorenzen – backing vocals (track 13)
 * Rickard Göransson – backing vocals (track 13)
 * Carl Falk – guitar, programming, keyboards, backing vocals (track 14)
 * Joakim Berg – acoustic guitar (track 14)
 * Martin Sköld – bass guitar (track 14)
 * Kristoffer Fogelmark – backing vocals (track 14)
 * Laleh Pourkarim – backing vocals (tracks 14, 18); bass (track 18); drum programming, synths, live percussion (tracks 18, 20)
 * Gustaf Thörn – backing vocals (tracks 14, 20); piano, organ, guitar, bass, string arrangements (track 20)
 * Klas Åhlund – synths, bass, keyboards, programming (track 15)
 * Jim Eliot – additional synths, guitar (track 16)
 * Oli Langford – violin (tracks 16, 19)
 * Reiad Chibah – viola (tracks 16, 19)
 * Richard Pryce – double bass (tracks 16, 19)
 * Joel Little – bass, drums, piano, keyboards (track 17); programming (track 19)
 * Erik Arvinder – strings (track 20)
 * Calvin Harris – all instruments (track 22)

Technical

 * Joe Kearns – production, mixing (track 1); engineering (tracks 1, 6); string production (tracks 1, 16, 19); vocal production, vocal recording (track 6); choir production (tracks 8, 16, 17); additional vocals production, additional vocals recording (track 16); additional vocal engineering (track 20)
 * Chris Ketley – string production (tracks 1, 16, 19); choir production (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Jason Elliott – string engineering (tracks 1, 16, 19); choir engineering (tracks 8, 16, 17)
 * Bob Knight – string supply (tracks 1, 16, 19); choir supply (tracks 8, 17)
 * Greg Kurstin – production (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 16, 19); engineering (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 16, 19); vocal production (tracks 6, 12); recording (track 11); additional production, vocal recording (track 12)
 * Alex Pasco – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 16, 19); recording (track 11)
 * Julian Burg – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, 16, 19); recording (track 11)
 * Ryan Tedder – production (track 4)
 * Noel Zancanella – production (track 4)
 * Anders Kjær – additional production (track 4)
 * Synthomania – additional production (track 4)
 * Rich Rich – engineering (track 4)
 * Rob Cohen – engineering assistance (track 4)
 * Max Martin – production (tracks 5, 9, 13, 14)
 * Ilya – production (tracks 5, 7)
 * Sam Holland – engineering (tracks 5, 7, 9, 10, 13–15)
 * Fred – additional production, vocal recording (track 6); vocal production, engineering (tracks 6, 12); production (track 12)
 * Laleh Pourkarim – additional vocals recording (track 7); vocal recording (track 14); production (tracks 18, 20); engineering, vocal production (track 20)
 * Ali Payami – production (tracks 9, 13, 15)
 * Peter Carlsson – vocal editing (track 9)
 * Mattias Bylund – string recording, string editing
 * Peter Svensson – production (track 10)
 * The Struts – production (track 10)
 * Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy – engineering (track 10)
 * Cory Bice – engineering assistance (tracks 10, 13–15)
 * Jeremy Lertola – engineering assistance (tracks 10, 13, 14)
 * Liam Nolan – vocal recording (track 12)
 * Rob Katz – engineering (tracks 13, 14)
 * Kristian Lundin – additional vocals recording (track 13); additional production, vocal recording, vocal production, vocal editing (track 14)
 * Carl Falk – production (track 14)
 * Klas Åhlund – production (track 15)
 * Jim Eliot – vocal production (track 16)
 * Joel Little – production (track 17); engineering (tracks 17, 19); vocal production, additional production (track 19)
 * Gustaf Thörn – engineering assistance (tracks 18, 20); production assistance (track 20)
 * Guy Lawrence – production (track 21)
 * Jimmy Napes – production (track 21)
 * Calvin Harris – production, mixing (track 22)
 * Cameron Gower Poole – vocal engineering (track 22)
 * Tom Campbell – engineering assistance (track 22)
 * Simon Davey – mastering (track 22)
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing (tracks 2–21)
 * John Hanes – engineering for mix
 * Tom Coyne – mastering
 * Randy Merrill – mastering assistance

Artwork

 * Ellie Goulding – creative direction
 * Cassandra Gracey – creative direction
 * David Roemer – photography
 * Richard Andrews – design