Ellie Goulding Channels Her Teenage Self On ‘Sixteen’

British pop star Ellie Goulding delivers the nostalgic anthem ‘Sixteen’, the second single off her forthcoming album.

The poppy earworm sees the 32-year-old singer-songwriter look back at her rebellious adolescence set to an infectious beat.

“We were dangerous, couldn’t tame us/What’s missing now? Time, suddenly we got no time/We’re so busy doing life,” sings Goulding. The song is already poised to become a universal anthem and taps into the feeling of being young and trapped in a small town.

Produced by Ian Kirkpatrick (Britney Spears, Julia Michaels), FRED and Mike Wise, the single was also co-written by Goulding herself.

“I’m so excited to share “Sixteen” with everyone,” explains Goulding. “That age was such a pivotal year for me in many ways and this song is so close to my heart. It takes me back to the reckless days of being a teenager and I hope it reminds us all about the innocence of youth.”

For the single’s accompanying video, Goulding asked her friends to share photos of them at the age of 16 to use for the single’s artwork and lyric video.

‘Sixteen’ follows in the footsteps of another singer-songwriter’s teenaged ode, Sharon Van Etten’s ‘Seventeen’. The new single stands in contrast of Goulding’s previously released single, ‘Flux’, which featured a more stripped back version of Goulding’s signature pop productions and featured a spare accompaniment of piano and strings.

Both singles are set to be featured on Goulding’s much-anticipated fourth studio album and follow-up to her 2015 release, Delirium.

The platinum singer-songwriter has also been actively involved in a number of film projects that includes recording the environmental anthem, ‘In This Together’ for Netflix’s new nature docu-series Our Planet with David Attenborough, as well as contributing a song to the upcoming Game of Thrones’ soundtrack, For The Throne.

Listen to ‘Sixteen’ here.

Format: UK English