Ellie Goulding's songs: The meanings behind her biggest hits from 'Starry Eyed' to 'Burn'

Ellie Goulding has had a plethora of hugely popular songs over the years including hits such as 'Love Me Like You Do', 'Burn' and 'Outside'! Her second single 'Starry Eyed' propelled her to the Top 5, and she didn't look back - having had four Top 5 albums and 14 Top 10 songs in the UK. Three of those songs were with Calvin Harris - so it's safe to say they make a good team!

After the release of 'Destiny' in November 2025, we take a look some of her biggest songs from the past decade. This includes her Christmas cover 'River', her cover of Elton John's 'Your Song' and 'Love Me Like You Do' from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

'Under The Sheets' (2009)

Ellie released 'Under The Sheets' as her debut single in November 2009, and although it didn't set the UK charts alight, it's remained a fan-favourite over the years. Appearing on her debut album 'Lights', Ellie explained in an interview at the time of release that it was the "easiest" song she's ever written.

She described the "meaningful lyrics" as being about a "dark" relationship that was based on the "physical" - and although it's not sexual, it's about how some relationships are based on "nothing that's real" and "not something good".

She went on to say that she'd experienced it herself, that in that scenario you "cling" on and are "in denial" and that "as soon as you step outside you're in the real world and you have to deal with it."

'Starry Eyed' (2010)

'Starry Eyed' was Ellie Goulding's breakthrough song, it was her second single to be released from her debut album 'Lights', and reached Number 4 in the UK.

When asked about the song, she told DigitalSpy: "It's about letting go. As opposed to all the sad and depressing things I write about, I decided to write something about the joining together of people in some kind of euphoric state - be it at a festival, at a show or in a club.

"I wanted a song that would reach out to people of every background and every enjoyment, whether you enjoy a natural high, taking drugs, drinking or whatever. Because I'm essentially a pop artist I wanted to write a song that everyone can relate to."

'Guns and Horses' (2010)

Appearing as the opening track for her debut album 'Lights', Ellie's song 'Guns and Horses' was hugely popular among fans upon its release - managing to break into the Top 40 at Number 26.

Ellie spoke about the meaning behind the song to Sky: "I wrote 'Guns and Horses' about a romance that began online hence the lyric, 'You found me, at a screen you sit at permanently'. I wanted the guy to feel more than he did for me but through no fault of his own he couldn't. It's a song about frustration essentially."

This can also be heard in the verse: 'Let's type words / 'Cause they amount to nothing / Play it down / Pretend you can't take what you found.' As the early Noughties was a time when chatting to stranger on the Internet was on the rise, this surely resonated with a lot of listeners at the time.

'The Writer' (2010)

Ellie's beautiful love song 'The Writer' was the fourth single to be released from 'Lights', breaking into the UK Top 20 at Number 19 - with the singer even performing it at the wedding reception of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, AKA Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Ellie told Sky about what the song meant, describing it as "the most personal and emotional song I've written yet. It's about how you'd do anything and change absolutely everything about yourself if necessary, just to be noticed by this one person."

We can hear this in the chorus lyrics: 'Why don't you be the artist, and make me out of clay? / Why don't you be the writer and decide the words I say?'

'Your Song' (2010)

Ellie Goulding's 'Your Song' was super popular with fans after she recorded the classic hit to appear on John Lewis' Christmas advert in 2010, but it wasn't originally her track. The iconic ballad was originally written by musical legend Elton John, which was released way back in 1970.

Ellie's version of the song reached Number 2 in the UK and became her second Top 5 hit. Originally written by Elton John with his long-time collaborator Bernie Taupin, the pair wrote the song while sitting at Elton's parents' kitchen table as reported by Far Out magazine,

"The original lyric was written very rapidly on the kitchen table of Elton’s mother’s apartment in Northwood Hills in the suburbs of London, if I recall, on a particularly grubby piece of exercise paper," Bernie explained.

With Elton later telling Rolling Stone magazine: "I always thought ‘Your Song’ was written about one of his girlfriends, and when I asked him that, he just said, ‘No it wasn’t!’ He gets fairly defensive."

Bernie later revealed: "The early ones were not drawn from experience, but imagination. 'Your Song' could only have been written by a 17-year-old who’d never been laid in his life."

'Lights' (2010)

Ellie re-released her debut album as 'Bright Lights', which came out in February 2010, featuring extra tracks 'Human', 'Animal' and 'Lights' among others. Surprisingly, it didn't make the Top 40 in the UK - but it was still hugely popular, having received a Platinum certification from the BPI with 600,000 UK sales.

Apparently, Ellie told a US radio station that the song is about her childhood fear of the dark, adding that she even still as an adult sometimes likes to sleep with the light on, adding: "It can be seen as something like a lighthouse that kind of always guides you home. I've always felt comfort sleeping with the light on, and I've always felt comfort being with my siblings."

Ellie sings about her fear of the dark in the lyrics: 'And I'm not sleeping now / The dark is too hard to beat', and even references drawing strength from her siblings later in the second verse: 'And I think back to when my brother and my sister slept / In an unlocked place, the only time I feel safe.'

'Anything Could Happen' (2012)

'Anything Could Happen' was Ellie Goulding's third Top 5 single, and featured on her second album 'Halcyon'. The song was written by Ellie along with Jim Eliot, who has also written for Olly Murs, Will Young and Kylie Minogue.

Speaking to Billboard magazine about her music, Ellie said: "This was fun because Jim's a really experienced, clever producer, but he acts like a child, like me. We're both like little kids just wanting to create sounds, like 'Oh that sounds cool' and 'let's see what happens when we do this!' It's like child's play, and… that's how 'Anything Can Happen' started. It's quite childlike and quite innocent."

Ellie also told MTV News: "I suppose it's one of those songs where I sort of talk about bits of my childhood, but also about my friendship with this person, and, um, I suppose it's a song of realisation."

She continued: "And it's called 'Anything Could Happen', (so) I'm hoping it will make people go out and propose to their girlfriends or go on that holiday they never ended up doing. I hope it will provoke positivity, as opposed to making people really sad."

'Figure 8' (2012)

'Figure 8' also features on 'Halcyon' - just breaking into the UK Top 40 at Number 33. The symbolism of the "figure 8" and it being a symbol for infinity is something Ellie uses to describe a futile relationship.

In the chorus we hear her sing: 'I chase 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.' Ellie herself has also spoken about the meaning behind the song, telling Student Pocket Guide: "It’s just about how awful unrequited love is, and the whole agony of someone not loving you back."

'Explosions' (2012)

'Explosions' also appeared on Ellie's second album 'Halcyon', and had a huge surge in popularity due to its use on a series of adverts for ITV entitled 'Where Drama Lives'. It peaked at Number 13 in the UK and has since been certified Gold by the BPI with 400,000 UK sales.

Ellie opened up to VICE about how the songs was about her dad no longer being in her life: "Funny enough, I had another song about my dad that I wrote. And then I was just like, 'You know what? I just don’t want to be bummed out by this anymore.' Writing a song for me is more than just writing it. I then have to perform it. I owe it to my fans to perform this song and I decided I don’t want to do that.

"I was on tour last year and I was performing that song and I was a mess because I was having a personal thing and it completely changed that song for like a week when I was performing it. It just changed it into the most heartbreaking, terrifying thing that I could possibly perform.

"But I think opening myself up doesn’t really scare me because songwriting has always given me something that just talking can’t do. I love talking, but there’s something about songwriting that allows me to have that power."

'Burn' (2013)

'Burn' was a super popular song for Ellie. The music video for 'Burn' is just one of a few of Ellie's which has had more than 1 billion views, and she quite rightly reached the top spot in the UK with his hugely catchy song, which is pop at its best.

Although Ellie hasn't opened up about the meaning behind this banger, many fans have speculated what it could be about. Pop Crush did their own interpretation of the lyrics, saying: 'It's better to burn out than to fade away.

'Life is burning too bright to allow anyone to get any shut eye or sleep. Goulding is equating love to the light and the fire that burns inside us all. She's speaking of the passion which keeps us going.'

'How Long Will I Love You' (2013)

'How Long Will I Love You' was another cover, however like 'Your Song' it was also very popular reaching Number 3 in the UK. Originally released by The Waterboys in 1990, Ellie's version was included on the re-issue of her second album, 'Halcyon Days'.

Not much is known about the inspiration behind this song, but it was written by Mike Scott of The Waterboys, known for their hit 'The Whole of the Moon'.

'Love Me Like You Do' (2015)

Co-written by Max Martin (the man behind Lady Gaga's 'Stupid Love' and Ariana Grande's 'Problem'), 'Love Me Like You Do' was featured on the the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. The song saw huge success around the world, getting to Number 1 in many countries and receiving more than 1 billion views on YouTube.

Although the song was originally written for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, during the Coronavirus pandemic the song took on a different meaning, when the singer performed it as part of Global Citizen's One World: Together At Home. As MTV reported at the time, the song is 'ode to human connection of any kind'.

After her performance, which saw Ellie playing the song on her guitar, she said: "I think it's amazing we're all staying home, keeping ourselves safe, and keeping others safe. I've seen such amazing kindness and togetherness and solidarity from people. … I hope you're all keeping busy and staying happy and positive and enjoying the sunshine somewhat."

'On My Mind' (2015)

'On My Mind' was co-written by Ellie Goulding, along with Max Martin, it reached the Top 5 in the UK in September 2015, it was also the lead single from her album 'Delirium'.

Many fans have speculated that the song is about her rumoured relationship with Ed Sheeran, but Ellie revealed in an interview with MTV News that it wasn't actually about anyone specific!

"I'm sorry to all the people that want it to be about someone - it's not, it's like a myth," Ellie said. "I like guys with tattoos, my boyfriend has tattoos... but I don't mind. People can read into it however they want. It's fun to do that, I would do that too."

She went on to say: "I probably walked into the studio and I was like, 'I have this person on my mind,' and then another writer is like, 'I have this person on my mind,' and we kind of formed the song out of all our different experiences, and I've never really done that before. That's the beauty of song writing: It doesn't have rules. It doesn't have to be about one person or one subject."

'River' (2019)

'River' was a huge hit from Ellie Goulding in December 2019 - but did you know it was actually a cover? Originally by Joni Mitchell, she never actually released the song as a single, although it did feature on her fourth album 'Blue'. The song has been covered a number of times over the years, but Ellie has had the most success with it so far, reaching Number 1 in the UK.

The song is about a relationship split, and it said to be inspired by Joni's relationship with artist Graham Nash. As her relationship began to fall apart, and her music career was taking off, Joni escaped to Europe to get away from everything.

Is the song 'Where Are You Now' by Ellie Goulding?

Despite a lot of people thinking Ellie Goulding sings on Alan Walker's track 'Faded', also known as 'Where Are You Now', it isn't her! The vocals on the 2015 single are actually provided by Norwegian recording artist Iselin Solheim.

Which song did Ellie Goulding make for Game of Thrones?

Ellie sang a song for hit TV show Game of Thrones, 'Hollow Crown' on the album 'For the Throne: Music Inspired by Game of Thrones', and revealed how it came about: "I was sent the song six months ago or so and they were trying to put this soundtrack together," she said.

"I just, kind of, made it my own and they said a few other people, a couple of other rappers were doing it and I was like, okay, it’s gonna be like Post Malone and Drake and then just me.

"So I just gave it my best shot and I sent it to them and they were obsessed with it. So, luckily I got to stay on it. But it could have been different. I’ve got like five people who are obsessed with Game of Thrones."

You can hear songs by Ellie Goulding on Clyde 1.

Take a look through Calvin Harris' collaborations including four with Ellie Goulding:

Read more:

Everything you need to know about 'Lights' hitmaker Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding opens up about the meaning behind her new song 'Destiny'

Calvin Harris: Everything you need to know about the 'Blessings' DJ

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