Ellie Goulding has a new album in her hands, ‘I Know Too Much’, which will be released on September 4. His last album, ‘Higher than Heaven’, appeared in 2023, and since then he has maintained his commercial presence thanks to the dance hit ‘Miracle’ with Calvin Harris.
What does Goulding offer in this new stage? The first preview, ‘Black Prada Dress’, denotes a return to more mainstream pop, and if you are thinking about ‘Delirium’, her 2015 album, you are on the right track, since this album is mentioned in the lyrics.
Far from the tropical styles of that time and the more alternative of its beginnings, ‘Black Prada Dress’ offers a set of musical ideas well integrated within a pop formula that takes us from a piano intro to a crescendo that leads to euphoria.
The mix of ultra-pop melodies, infallible hooks, jersey club rhythms and catchy new wave keyboards, all wrapped in an atmospheric and accessible production, seems at times somewhat forced in pursuit of commerciality. For this reason, ‘Black Prada Dress’ sounds somewhat calculated, although I enjoy pop for a while.
The lyrics seem to talk about a toxic love: that of fans. Only in this way can such literal phrases as “I’m trying to be a Hollywood baby, cause you make me feel like London hates me” or the dramatic “Don’t want the pills, but you kinda make me think I need ’em” be explained. Ellie, quit Twitter.
The mention of ‘Delirium’ comes in the passage “Taste of fire on my tongue, arms up high delirium”, and other verses make the lyrical intention clear, placing themselves between pop confession and direct denunciation. “You know every single button to press, only you could call me trashy in my black Prada dress” is the sonorous central rhyme, the one in the chorus.
The toxic obsession of fandom is reflected in the passage “You’re in my head, you’re in my mind, you’re everywhere like all the time / Is this the way it’s s’posed to be / It doesn’t feel like love to me.” Goulding answers hate with love, in the form of a pop song with clear hits.
