One of the things that immediately struck me when I first watched Ellie Goulding's new video for "Figure 8" is how the singer has completely transformed herself over the last couple of years - evolving from a British chart darling into a bonafide global superstar. Perfectly combining style with substance, the visually-stunning video for "Figure 8" is one for the big time that shows a confident singer and fashionista who looks nothing like the sweet debutante we saw in the video for "Starry Eyed."
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"Figure 8" tells part of that bigger story on Halcyon." The song seems to be ripped straight from Goulding's personal experiences when she sings, "I chased your love around a figure 8. I need you more than I can take. You promise forever and a day, and then you take it all away." Lyrically, she doesn't step away from the painful experience without painting a silver lining and giving listeners an important piece of advice, "Lovers hold on to everything and lovers hold on to anything."
The gritty, slighty dark and perfectly-styled video for "Figure 8" intensifies the raw emotion that drives the song. The video pictures Goulding twisting and turning in bed trying to make sense of a nightmare situation. Those scenes are interspersed with footage of Goulding dressed in a flaming red, flowing gown and veil that likely is a metaphor for the bad dream that continues to haunt her. It's a brutally honest and brave visualization of a song that is very personal to Goulding but is delivered in a way that will resonate with many, many others. (Click here to download Ellie Goulding "Figure 8" on iTunes.)