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Lights is the debut studio album by English recording artist Ellie Goulding. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2010 by Polydor Records. Produced by Starsmith, Frankmusik, Fraser T. Smith and Richard Stannard, the album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart selling almost 40,000 copies in its first week. By the end of 2010, the album had sold 387,600 copies in the UK.

The album was re-released on 29 November 2010 as Bright Lights, including six brand-new tracks. The re-release helped the album return to the top five in the UK in January 2011 and position within the Irish top ten for the first time in February 2011. On 8 March 2011 the album will be released in the United States featuring three songs that were not available on the original version but were added on for the Bright Lights release.

Background and development
Goulding worked with producers Starsmith, Frankmusik, Fraser T. Smith and Richard Stannard; the majority of the album was recorded in the former's bedroom in Bromley, London. Goulding explained that the album "is made up of songs that all started on a guitar over a period of about two years. A number of the songs vent romantic victories and failures." She revealed that the first song she ever wrote, "Wish I Stayed", is featured on the album. She also said of her music: "Though I write on guitar, I hear the entire sound of songs in my head. And Fin [Starsmith] is someone who understands."

Critical reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Lights holds an average score of 64 out of 100, indicating generally positive reviews from critics. Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph praised the "lush electro-dance production of Starsmith" saying it "evokes a gushing, breathless rush of heady emotion that might have benefited from at least a dash of restraint and intimacy." Mike Diver from BBC Music described the album as "an expectations-passing collection that should see fans of the singer's material to date elevating her to superstar status – perhaps not Gaga league, but certainly the equal of the current solo female du jour, Florence Welch." He also stated that "ballads like The Writer and I'll Hold My Breath retain the glossy attraction of singles Under the Sheets and Starry Eyed. Wish I Stayed is the album's skilfully sound-scaped highlight, percussively brutish but comely of light keys." In his review for Allmusic, Matthew Chisling commented that "Goulding's album is something of relevance; it lacks the dramatic crash and bang of Florence and the Machine's Lungs, but is certainly a more restrained, compelling listen than the debut records by Pixie Lott and Little Boots." He further commended Goulding for her ability to "take the best parts of all of her contemporaries' styles and create pleasantly surprising records." The Fly magazine's Camilla Pia stated: "Packed full of sparkling pop with a folky heart and an electronic edge, the debut is ridiculously infectious; swooping choruses and lyrics of all-consuming love and losing it sticking in your head from first listen."

The Independent critic Andy Gill noted that "despite the occasional furtive flourish of acoustic guitar, her work on this debut album is more akin to the retro-synthpop of Little Boots and La Roux, thanks to the thoroughness with which production partner Fin Dow-Smith has smothered her folkie origins under a welter of busily cycling synths and programmed beats." Stephen Troussé wrote for Pitchfork Media that "[o]utside of its immediate context, Lights is a sometimes great, always promising debut. It's an album about leaving home, and it works best when the contrast between the folk singer and the pop production chimes with the tensions between the pull of home and the allure of the city." Michael Cragg from musicOMH opined that "[f]or the most part, the strength of the songwriting should keep the doubters at bay, Goulding and producer Starsmith concocting a heady mix of skyscraping choruses, twinkling beats and Goulding's elastic vocals." Claire Allfree of Metro referred to the album as "undeniably pretty aerated synth-pop but Goulding's girly, heartfelt voice is oddly depthless, while the electronic vapour and four-to-the-floor house beats swoop in a wash of perfectly calibrated bland sound", though there was praise for "Starry Eyed" ("pulsingly pert") and "The Writer" ("a lilting melodic hook"). However, The Guardian's Alexis Petridis took a dislike to the album saying it provides "just general acoustic singer-songwriter material." Mark Beaumont from the NME was not impressed either, stating that "there's nothing here groundbreaking enough to justify the critical frothing. It's largely straight-ahead folk-pop dappled with a mild ground-frost of sequenced beats, Auto-Tune, and synth sizzles." David Renshaw of Drowned in Sound believed that "Lights sounds like a naïve folk album given a blog house remix" and that "[d]evoid of a true soul or sense of honesty Lights can be a pretty hollow listen."

Singles
Six singles were released from Lights.

Under the Sheets
Under the Sheets was released as the album's lead single. The song premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 30 September 2009 and was released on the UK iTunes Store on 15 November 2009, peaking at number fifty-three on the UK Singles Chart on the issue dated 22 November 2009. It was also used to promote the second season of 90210 on the UK channel E4. According to Goulding, the single was released on independent label Neon Gold Records rather than Polydor so that she would not be put under too much pressure.

Goulding said:

["Under the Sheets"] was probably the easiest song I've written, but actually when I listen back to the lyrics they are actually quite meaningful. They are about a girl and a guy who are in a relationship but it's a very dark relationship in that it's only based on being physical. It's not like a sexual song, it's more like shows that some relationships are based on nothing that is real, they are not based on something good. I've had that experience in my life, because you're trying to cling on to something that you know you're in denial. That's what the song is about in that you know the world won't bring us down, you can be as happy as Larry inside your house with your boyfriend or lover, but as soon as you step outside you're in the real world and you have to deal with it.

Critical reception
Digital Spy music editor Nick Levine wrote that "Under the Sheets" is "that bit more magical than the average electropop tune, managing to sound twinkly and chunky at the same time, and the chorus is pretty much irresistible." He also went on to describe Goulding's voice as "pure, girlish and as fluttery as a butterfly trapped in a cupboard." Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog called the track an "immaculate frostypop masterpiece" and stated that "[f]rom the first like all the boys, boys, boys, boys to the final go around on the pleading chorus, Ellie's voice dominates. There is barely a second of music which does not feature her vocal in some way, either as a muffled pixie choir, a lead instrument, or a soft, tumbledown wail in the background." The Guardian reviewer Alexis Petridis described it as "a mildly anxious relationship memoir made over with digitised strings, breeze-block synths and crashing 1980s drums." Mark Beaumont from the NME referred to the song as one of the album's "spangliest tracks" along with "Starry Eyed", further commenting that it sees Goulding "in more bruised and bitter mood as producer Starsmith feeds her vulnerable vocals through an Auto-Tune the size of the Large Hadron Collider."

Starry Eyed
The second single, Starry Eyed, was released as the album's second single on 22 February 2010.

When asked what "Starry Eyed" was about, Goulding said: It's about letting go. As opposed to all the sad and depressing things I write about, I decided to write something about the joining together of people in some kind of euphoric state—be it at a festival, at a show or in a club. I wanted a song that would reach out to people of every background and every enjoyment, whether you enjoy a natural high, taking drugs, drinking or whatever. Because I'm essentially a pop artist I wanted to write a song that everyone can relate to.

"Starry Eyed" is part of the soundtrack to the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. It was also used in an episode of the British television soap opera Hollyoaks in April 2010.

You Me at Six covered the song on the Live Lounge segment of BBC Radio 1's The Jo Whiley Show on 18 May 2010. This version reached number 104 on the UK Singles Chart.

Critical reception
Nick Levine wrote for Digital Spy that "Starry Eyed" "manages to be folky, poppy and dancey all at the same time, twinkly but not twee, and otherworldly without losing its universal appeal." NME critic Mark Beaumont deemed the song to be one of the album's "spangliest tracks" along with "Under the Sheets", stating that it "finds Ellie love-struck and breathless [...] to disco diva beats and looped soul wails, sounding like an angelic Cheryl Cole."

Guns and Horses
The third single, Guns and Horses, was released digitally on 16 May 2010 and physically the day after as the album's third single.

When asked what "Guns and Horses" was about, Goulding said:

I wrote "Guns And Horses" about a romance that began online hence the lyric ' you found me, at a screen you sit at permanently '. I wanted the guy to feel more than he did for me but through no fault of his own he couldn't. It's a song about frustration essentially. My producer [ Starsmith ] made me laugh at the end, I can't repeat what he called me though.

Critical reception
Mark Beaumont from the NME, whilst reviewing Lights, wrote: "These tunes are sparkly of cleavage, designed to seduce the charts with a coy bat of their neon lashes. There's more: like opener 'Guns and Horses', which skitters along on bleeps and fizzes, xylophone tinkles and acoustic strumblings." David Renshaw from Drowned in Sound considered the song to be the album's stand-out track, stating that it "starts with nothing but a finger picked guitar and basic drum beat. Goulding's voice rasps and commands proceedings as she longs to feel the same for a boy who has feelings for her." Pitchfork Media's Stephen Troussé commented that the song "may be the best opening invitation for travel since 'Two Divided by Zero' kicked off the Pet Shop Boys' Please" and that it "builds from spare acoustics to urgent trance pop – 'I left my house, left my clothes, door widen open, heaven knows, but you're so worth it, you are...' – concluding with a desperate a cappella coda, and a brief breathless chuckle at her casual audacity." Digital Spy music reporter Robert Copsey referred to the track as "[a]nother example of the glorious folktronic pop sound she and producer Starmith established on 'Under The Sheets' and 'Starry Eyed' – and reassuring proof that her romantic suffering wasn't for nothing." Fraser McAlpine of the BBC Chart Blog noted that "Ellie still sings it like a frightened woodland nymph, but this is a more ordinary sort of a song than her previous two, and the production – tasteful acoustic, tasteful beats, tasteful synths, tasteful harmonies – struggles to make it shine."

The Writer
The Writer, intended as the album's final single, was released on 8 August 2010. When asked what "The Writer" was about, Goulding said:

"The Writer" is the most personal and emotional song I've written yet. It's about how you'd do anything and change absolutely everything about yourself if necessary, just to be noticed by this one person."

Critical reception
Polly Vernon from The Observer named "The Writer" the "love song of the summer", whilst calling it "raw, eloquent, generally gorgeous", as well as describing Goulding's voice as "ghostly sweet, saved from sickliness by guttural Björk-ish quirks." OddOne from Unreality Shout felt that "[n]ot once has she sounded more warming than in this beautifully written love song of devotion to a lover", but noted that "being her first ballad, she does fall at some hurdles, like the middle 8: whilst Ellie's breathy vocals may appear to bridge the emotion between the two final choruses, it actually does feel a bit like she's gone back to her colder self, not making the emotion clearly defined despite the very comforting lyrics." Ryan Love wrote for Digital Spy that "Starsmith's typically twinkly production allows those vocals to shine through as she urges a potential boyfriend to help her become just the right kinda gal for him – and the overall effect is as sweet and pretty as a pink frosted cupcake." Michael Cragg of musicOMH compared the song to Dido "with a more four-to-the-floor backing." Pitchfork Media's Stephen Troussé, however, referred negatively to it as "a big bluster of a song, with a chorus where the spectre of the Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan is all too vivid, whose future success could be Goulding's undoing." SouthSonic stated that "The Writer" is "a gentle song opposing her second single 'Starry Eyed'" and that it "presents to the audience a sense of dreaming or wandering in thought and interestingly, the tempo of the song is of a slow walking pace."

Your Song

 * See Your Song

Lights
Following the Bright Lights re-release, Lights was chosen as the album's sixth single. It will be released as the lead single from the album in the United States. "Lights" originally appeared as a bonus track on the iTunes edition of Lights; the song was then re-edited for inclusion on Bright Lights in late 2010, serving as the single version.

"Lights" was originally announced as a single on 8 September 2010 on Goulding's official Twitter page, with a release date scheduled for 1 November 2010. It was to be released as the lead track from the album's repackaging as Bright Lights. However, this plan was scrapped in favour of releasing "Your Song" in order to capitalise on the John Lewis Christmas marketing campaign that it featured in. This was followed by the repackaging of the album Lights as Bright Lights.

It was once again announced in January 2011 that the single version of "Lights" would be released.

Critical reception
Horatia Harrod in The Daily Telegraph commented that "Lights, the title track of her album and her latest single, is threaded with dark thoughts, but set to an airy pop production bordering on polite. Her voice is the real star. She has the magical ability, not unlike her heroine, Björk, to sing with a sort of controlled tremulousness: her voice aches with vulnerability but never breaks."

Personnel

 * Ellie Goulding – vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
 * Seye Adelekan – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
 * Beatriz Artola – engineering
 * Stevie Blacke – live strings
 * Alan Clarke – photography
 * Joe Clegg – drums
 * Frankmusik – producer, engineering, programming, backing vocals, keyboards
 * Matt Hill – drum engineering
 * Julian Kindred – drum engineering
 * Charlie Morton – backing vocals, additional acoustic guitar
 * Naweed – mastering
 * Fraser T. Smith – producer
 * Starsmith – producer, drum programming, keyboards, drums, bass, saxophone
 * Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
 * Traffic – design