Luke's Music Reviews #3: Delirium by Ellie Goulding

Sometimes, people stumble upon a new artist that they immediately like randomly. It could be through a song that plays on the radio, a scroll through iTunes to look at the New Artists section (or Single of the Week, back in the day), or an ad that pops up on YouTube or on TV. No matter the case, anything can happen, and it allows people to acquire a new favorite singer or group.

My brother first stumbled upon Ellie Goulding on a random trip through the UK Amazon to see new Rainbow Magic books (we were very weird children). I immediately found her pretty (I had a blonde obsession as a child; again, I was weird) and I was interested in listening to her. I took the first step in searching up her music, found "Lights" in April 2011, and was immediately hooked. That song stuck in my memory for a while, and when it began to grace mainstream radio airwaves in early 2012, I was surprised. At the time, Goulding gaining success here in the US boggled my mind, but now, three years later, we have her third album, Delirium, and the successes of "Lights", "Anything Could Happen", "Burn", and the surprise hit in "Love Me Like You Do."

When this new album was announced, I became really excited, and the first single "On My Mind" was great. However, I felt it lacked some of Goulding's identity on the first couple of listens. Since those first listens, the song has grown on me massively, and with every pre-order single that came out, my hopes grew and grew.

Plus, Goulding herself stated that she wanted to take this record in a grandiose pop direction, and judging from all of the songs that came out before hand, she had succeeded that goal. But would a full length album deliver? And would I enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed Lights, Halcyon, and Halcyon Days?

Luke's Music Reviews #2: Honeymoon by Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey's career has been quite the interesting topic to discuss. Literally coming out of nowhere with her debut major label album, Born to Die, and met with polarizing reviews from music critics for the two years afterwards, she became an elusive part of the indie scene until the Cedric Gervais remix of her song "Summertime Sadness" got her some mainstream coverage. I first heard about her in 2012 through VH1, and three years later, I can state that I've become a real fan of hers. It's something about her ethereal persona and the lush atmospheres that she has for her songs that has me coming back.

With her second album, Ultraviolence, things took a turn for the better. Music critics started to fall in love with her music, and the album received collectively positive reviews (meanwhile, some YouTube critics just wanted Ultraviolence to jump off the face of the earth). That album was definitely one of my favorites of last year, as Lana's lyrics and singing blended perfectly with the 70's surf rock instrumentals and the subdued darkness the album had. Even if some of the songs went on for a little too long, I still found myself drawn to the complicated character that is Lana Del Rey.

Fast forward a year later, and we already have a new album from Del Rey. This record, Honeymoon, focuses on the same themes that she has touched upon time and time again, but this time, she worked and co-produced with only two main producers: Rick Nowels and Kieron Menzies. With her new content being worked on by one of the people she's worked with in the past, and with an album solely produced by herself and two other people, did Lana deliver another winner? Or was this album a disappointment?

Luke's Music Reviews #1: E•MO•TION by Carly Rae Jepsen

Who has heard of "Call Me Maybe"? Pretty much everybody? Alright, I was predicting that outcome.

The song that I just mentioned threw Carly Rae Jepsen into the spotlight in 2012 after her debut off Canadian Idol and a debut album, giving the Canadian singer-songwriter a 9x platinum designation here in the US (which is crazy). The album that the single appeared on, Kiss, was nice, but I never really found it to be remarkable. The songs are cute and sweet (not to mention most are undeniably catchy), but I found it kind of odd for a woman in her late 20's to sing about love like she was still a teenager. Some of the instrumentals were also very sugary, and none of the songs really clicked together to make a strong album statement,

Sadly (and unfortunately), the only really successful single off Kiss was "Call Me Maybe", and although more singles were released (including the sneaking-behind-the-lovers'-backs song "This Kiss" or the accurately named "Tonight I'm Getting Over You", not to mention the collaboration with Owl City on "Good Time"), none of them made the splash that "Call Me Maybe" ever did. As a result, Carly Rae Jepsen mostly faded out of the spotlight, and most of the American public was left to assume she'd be left as a one hit wonder.

And then along came March 2015, when "I Really Like You" first dropped, the lead single to a new album from Jepsen. I was surprised when I found it on Spotify the first Tuesday of March, and I immediately attached onto it. Sure, the naivete of "Call Me Maybe" was still present, but the beat was much more lush and extravagant, perfectly fitting that person teetering on the precipice of falling in love but not being quite there yet.

After listening to "I Really Like You" several times, I knew that Carly deserved another chance. Maybe I needed some more of that cuteness that had felt at times lackluster during Kiss; maybe I would find some of that simpler Carly that had been on songs from her debut album, Tug of War (which I haven't listened to all of yet, but all of the tracks I've heard have been great). At the same time, I was thinking that it would be similar to Kiss in that it would be juvenile in some aspects, so I went in with mixed expectations.

So how was E•MO•TION? Was it as I expected? Or did it succeed my expectations and turn out to be a surprisingly great album?