Music Review: Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding "Outside"

Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding

Outside

Album: Motion

Year:  2014

                Ellie Goulding hangs onto a dying relationship in the explorative            “Outside.”

                Soul searching synths open the single, setting a reflective tone. He stands beside her as they wait at the restraurant. He plays on his phone (she assumes) while she looks at the other couples. One couple in particular stands out: they seem to be about her age. He’s waves his hands around and she laughs. She looks back to her boyfriend who is still on his phone. The pager lights up and she lets him know they need to see the hostess. He responds yes and walks ahead of her. She wonders when he changed. (“Look at what you've done/Standin' still, fallin' away from me/When it takes so long/Fire's out, what do you want to be?”)

           In the pre-chorus, she can only wait. She thinks it’s her and that she’s doing something wrong. She isn’t sure what to do. He is the one person capable of breaking her into a million pieces. (“Now I'm holdin’ on/Myself was never enough for me/Gotta be so strong/There's a power in what you do/Now, every other day I'll be watching you.”)

              In the chorus, she realizes that although she’s with him, she’s not involved in his life. He doesn’t talk much about his work. He has his nights out with the guys. There is so much she doesn’t know despite knowing him for years. (“I'll show you what it feels like now I'm on the outside/We did everything right, now I'm on the outside/I'll show you what it feels like now I'm on the outside/We did everything right, now I'm on the outside.”)

                He leaves her stranded on many nights with little explanation. His feelings are unclear. She could leave at any moment and it wouldn’t have any impact on him whatsoever. But she wants to try to fix it and learn why he hasn’t left. She wants to figure everything out and make it through their rough patch. (“Though you give me no reason/For me to stay close to you/Tell me what lovers do/How are we still breathing?/It's never for us to choose/I'll be the strength in you.”)

                The pre-chorus is sung again.

                The chorus is sung again to end the single.

              Goulding, in all her loneliness and melancholy, strives to find answers. It’s all she has. Misery wakes her up and prompts her to change. She feels it through, working around every curve to know why.

              Harris has found his muse: Goulding. She brings out the best in him. Out of the singles he’s released for the album, “Outside” is the only one he’s challenging himself and pushing himself to match his partner.

             The  nimble “Outside” finds Harris returning to form.