Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding: A history of their collaborations
They're a good team!
Last updated 12 hours ago
Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding have topped the charts over the last decade or so - both individually and as a collaborative pair. With hits like 'Burn' and 'How Long Will I Love You' for Ellie and 'One Kiss' and 'Blessings' for Calvin, there's a huge amount of talent between the two of them.
So it's no surprise really that such a creative couple of musicians would make pretty sensational music together, too. Here's everything you need to know about Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding's collaborations together.
How many songs have Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding done together?
The pair have released a total of four hits together: 'I Need Your Love' (2013), 'Outside' (2014), 'Miracle' (2023) and 'Free' (2024).
Why do Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris like working together?
Ellie and Calvin came in to Hits Radio for an interview with Fleur East and James Barr back in 2023, and Fleur asked them just that - wanting to know the secret to them working together, and why they think it works.
Calvin revealed Ellie has the: "Three good things about working with somebody," going on to explain she has: "A spectacular unique voice and delivery that can carry a song emotionally, and you’re a laugh!"
Ellie then added: "I feel like we just have a 'thing', I don’t know what it is, it’s hard to explain."
With Calvin opening up further: "It’s one of them, you just work with someone and it works several times, and it’s just easy in the studio and it’s not awkward, which frequently with me, it can be. It just flows and you get the best out of each other, it’s one of them."
Have Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris ever dated?
No, they haven't. After the release of the romantic music video for 'I Need Your Love', fans were certain that only a real-life romantic chemistry could have created such a good song - but Calvin and Ellie have always denied anything more than a platonic relationship.
After 'I Need Your Love' was released, Calvin shared a behind-the-scenes photo of the pair together on location, with the very clear caption: 'Me and Ellie Goulding PRETENDING to be LOVERS in this video.'
Ellie added in an interview with Metro: "We knew in that video, we would just giggle and laugh the whole way through. Me and Calvin are really good friends. We make each other laugh. We text each other stupid stuff and we really get on and are similar."
'I Need Your Love'
The duo first worked together back in 2013 on 'I Need Your Love'. The song was released as a single on 2nd April 2013 and went to Number 4 in the UK, later being certified Platinum in the UK with over 600,000 sales.
It appeared on Calvin's seismic 2012 album '18 Months', and as a bonus track on Ellie's 'Halcyon', released in the same year. 'I Need Your Love' received two nominations at The BRIT Awards 2014 for British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year.
The music video, directed by Emil Nava, set tongues wagging and rumours flying that Calvin and Ellie were in a relationship, as the video is filmed from the perspective of a camcorder and follows the fictional pair on a romantic holiday.
'Outside'
It was obviously a relationship that worked well quickly, as the pair waited only a year before releasing their next duet. 'Outside' was released as a single on 20th October 2014, having appeared on Calvin's 2014 album 'Motion' and the deluxe edition of Ellie's 2015 record 'Delirium'.
It peaked at Number 4 in the UK and has since been certified 2x Platinum with over 1.2 million sales. The pair reunited with Emil Nava to direct the music video, which showed them each in a violent argument with their respective fictional partners.
'Miracle'
The pair teamed up yet again a decade after their first collaborative single, releasing 'Miracle' on 10th March 2023. It went to Number 1 in the UK and has since been certified 2x Platinum, appearing on Calvin's 2024 album '96 Months'.
The song received a nomination at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards for Best Pop Dance Recording and at The BRIT Awards for Song Of The Year.
Calvin and Ellie joined Fleur East and James Barr to celebrate the release of 'Miracle' back in 2023. Before the release of their song, Ellie revealed 'Miracle' was the highest chorus she's had to sing and she explained in the interview why she chose to sing it so high.
Ellie told the Cool FM team: "The trick is always singing a bit higher, you know something else that’s a bit higher and just keep doing it." She went on to explain she doesn't want to lose the ability to sing higher: "If I keep singing consistently higher it’s like muscle memory, so it will just be there."
'Free'
Another Ellie x Calvin collaboration to appear on Calvin's album '96 Months' was 'Free', released as a single on 26th July 2024. It just about broke into the Top 40 in the UK, peaking at Number 35, and has been certified Silver by the BPI.
Unreleased Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding song
Having first worked together a decade ago, we wanted to know if there were any other collabs they've recorded, and there are.... 👀
Calvin revealed that the pair did in fact record another song together, but: "It wasn’t good enough, only the good ones come out."
Ellie then chimed in that Calvin had told her that her part was good, but it was only two or three lines. So sadly it looks like we won't hear that collab on the radio any time soon!
You can hear Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding' on the Cool FM playlist.
Now read:
Calvin Harris: Does the DJ/producer sing his own songs?
Everything you need to know about Calvin Harris
The inspirations behind some of Ellie Goulding's biggest songs from 'Starry Eyed' to 'Burn'