Ellie Goulding: Is she really the future?

There's been much chitter chatter about Ellie Goulding of late. She was crowned the Sound of 2010 by the BBC and will collect the Critic's Choice award at the Brits next month.



As ever, all this hype and press attention is causing a slightly skewed idea of who Ellie is as an artist and what she's trying to do, etc. The fact that she's appearing in nearly every music magazine, broadsheet and blog is good from the point of view that it spreads the word and makes sure she gets playlisted by Radio 1 for example, but it also causes what we're scientifically calling 'hype fatigue'. The time between hype and backlash is so minimal now that it seems to be happening almost instantly. As if to prove a point, two Musick readers have banded about words such as "over-produced", "whiny" and "fake". This last bit is quite pertinent in that Ellie used to just play folksy, guitar type songs and now she makes folksy, guitar type songs but with mildly electronic backing, which may mean she's evolved, but it may also mean she's jumping on some kind of bandwagon.

The point is, we don't really know yet. Her album will tell us more, but seeing as by the time that comes out she would have already won a Brit and be absolutely EVERYWHERE, the hype fatigue may have claimed a section of her audience.

So, let's do a test. In the top right hand corner of this blog is a poll. We would like you to vote on what you think of Ellie Goulding. The results will be sent on to her label who will then mould and shape her accordingly.

To help you out, this is her new single, 'Starry Eyed' (it's very good, we said, impartially):