Higher Than Heaven

Higher Than Heaven is the fifth studio album by English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, released on 7 April 2023 by Polydor Records. It is her first album in three years, since Brightest Blue (2020).

The album was preceded by the singles "Easy Lover", "Let It Die", "Like a Saviour" and "By the End of the Night". Higher Than Heaven was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart and shifting 11,818 album-equivalent units in its first week. It became Goulding's fourth chart-topping album in the country, putting her level with Adele as the two British female artists with the most number-one albums.

Higher Than Heaven received positive reviews from music critics and was named as one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, and Billboard.

Background and development
The album was written in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Goulding: "There was definitely a darkness about [the past two years] that was palpable in the studio, with everyone having gone through it differently. I think for that reason, nobody wanted to sit and agonise over some relationship or some drama. So that's how this album came together.

Goulding expressed that in contrast to her previous 2020 album Brightest Blue, the album is her "least personal album." She elaborated "...I think it’s the best album because I got to just explore other things about myself. I just really, really enjoy writing, really enjoy being a singer. [It] was such a relief and really refreshing to not be sitting in the studio going through all the things that happened to me and affected me. Because I feel things very deeply."

Release and promotion
On 19 October 2022, Goulding announced the album's title and revealed its artwork cover, with an initial release date of 3 February 2023. However, on 9 January 2023, Goulding announced an initial delay to 24 March, stating "...we’ve had some exciting opportunities appear behind the scenes." On 28 February, she announced a second delay to 7 April; stating issues with sourcing eco-friendly material for the album's physical formats.

On 31 March, Goulding released the songs "Midnight Dreams", "Cure for Love", "Love Goes On" and "Higher Than Heaven" on digital platforms in conjunction with her appearance on the Amazon Freevee series Monumental; making the first 8 tracks of the album available.

On 7 April, the day of the album's release, Goulding released a music video for "Better Man", directed by Tom Sandford.

Critical reception
Higher Than Heaven received generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional critics, the album received a weighted average score of 77, based on seven reviews - Goulding's highest-rated album of her career. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the album a 6.7 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.

Higher Than Heaven was named as one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone, and Billboard.

Tour
In support of the album, Goulding announced European dates for the Higher Than Heaven Tour: She also announced shows in the United States, accompanied by an orchestra.

Set list

This set list is taken from the show at 3Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland on 16 October 2023. It does not represent all shows on this tour.


 * 1) "Better Man"
 * 2) "Let It Die"
 * 3) "Outside"
 * 4) "Love Goes On"
 * 5) "Power"
 * 6) "By the End of the Night"
 * 7) "How Deep Is Too Deep"
 * 8) "Frozen" (Madonna cover)
 * 9) "Halcyon"
 * 10) "Starry Eyed"
 * 11) "Midnight Dreams"
 * 12) "Anything Could Happen"
 * 13) "Brightest Blue"
 * 14) "Still Falling for You"
 * 15) "Lights"
 * 16) "Miracle"
 * 17) "Joy"
 * 18) "Somebody"
 * 19) "Higher Than Heaven"
 * 20) "Animal"
 * 21) "I Need Your Love"

Encore


 * 1) "Love Me like You Do"
 * 2) "Burn"

Notes


 * Starting with the show in Glasgow, Goulding performed a version of "My Blood".
 * Starting with the show in Manchester, Goulding performed "Your Song" as part of the encore.
 * Starting with the show in Manchester, "By the End of the Night", "Somebody", "Love Goes On" and "Brightest Blue" were removed from the setlist.
 * During the shows in Manchester, Birmingham and London, "How Deep Is Too Deep" was not performed.
 * During the show in Manchester, "Midnight Dreams" was not performed.
 * Starting with the show in Paris, "Let It Die" was removed from the setlist.
 * During the shows in Paris, Luxembourg City, Utrecht, Brussels and Milan, "Animal" was not performed.
 * During the show in Paris, "Halcyon" was not performed.
 * During the show in Milan, Goulding performed a version of "Figure 8" as part of the encore.

Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, Higher Than Heaven debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, shifting 11,818 album-equivalent units in its first week, the lowest of any of her albums. It became Goulding's fourth chart-topping album in the country, putting her level with Adele as the two British female artists with the most number one albums. In the same week, her single "Miracle", a collaboration with Calvin Harris, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, earning Goulding her first "chart double", although "Miracle" does not feature on Higher Than Heaven.

The album also debuted at number one on the Scottish Albums Chart.

Track listing
Notes
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Personnel
Musicians


 * Ellie Goulding – vocals
 * Glen Garth – background vocals (tracks 1, 7); bass guitar, drums, synthesizer (7)
 * Phil Garth – background vocals (1, 3); bass guitar, drums, synthesizer (1)
 * Stephen Kozmeniuk – bass guitar, drums, synthesizer (1–4, 7); guitar (1–4)
 * Maurie Kaufmann – drums (1, 7)
 * Andrew Wells – bass guitar, drums, guitar, synthesizer (2, 4, 12, 14); piano (2, 4), flute (4), percussion (12, 14), programming (14), keyboards (16)
 * Claude Vause – programming (2)
 * Todd Clark – background vocals (3)
 * Trey Campbell – background vocals (3)
 * Greg Kurstin – bass guitar, drums, keyboards, percussion, synthesizer (5, 6, 10, 13); electric guitar (6, 10)
 * Lostboy – bass guitar, drum programming, keyboards, programming (8)
 * Big Sean – vocals (6)
 * Jesse Shatkin – bass guitar, drums, keyboards, percussion, programming, synthesizer (9)
 * Andrew Watt – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, programming (11)
 * Happy Perez – keyboards, programming (11)
 * Freddy Sheed – drum programming (12)
 * Charley Bagnall – synthesizer (12)
 * Marco Parisi – bass guitar, keyboards, programming, sound effects (15)
 * Giampaolo Parisi – drums, percussion, programming, sound effects, synthesizer (15)
 * Ohyes – bass guitar, drums, keyboards, programming (16)
 * João Cruz – guitar (16)
 * Bruce Fielder – keyboards, programming (16)

Technical


 * Randy Merrill – mastering (1–15)
 * One Mix Mastering – mastering, mixing (16)
 * Matty Green – mixing (1, 7, 9, 14)
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing (2–6, 10–13)
 * Lostboy – mixing (8)
 * Clem Cherry – engineering (1, 3, 7)
 * Jesper Kragh Nielsen – engineering (1, 3, 7)
 * Kristian Donaldson – engineering (1, 3, 7)
 * Andrew Wells – engineering (2, 4, 12)
 * Alex Pasco – engineering (5, 6, 10, 13)
 * Greg Kurstin – engineering (5, 6, 10, 13)
 * Julian Burg – engineering (5, 6, 10, 13)
 * Matt Tuggle – engineering (5, 6, 10, 13)
 * Tom Kahre – engineering (6)
 * Jesse Shatkin – engineering (9)
 * Samuel Dent – engineering (9)
 * Andrew Watt – engineering (11)
 * Happy Perez – engineering (11)
 * Joe Kearns – vocal engineering (6)
 * Bryce Bordone – mixing assistance (2–6, 10–13)
 * Claude Vause – engineering assistance (2, 4, 12)
 * Jon Yeston – engineering assistance (2, 4, 12)
 * Dominic Ganderton – engineering assistance (2, 4)
 * Luke Gibbs – engineering assistance (12, 14)