" On My Mind" is Our Song Of The Day recorded by English singer and songwriter
Ellie Goulding from her third studio album Delirium (2015). It was
released as the album's lead single on 17 September 2015. It was
written by Goulding, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ilya
Salmanzadeh , and produced by Martin, Continuous and Ilya. "On
My Mind" is a electropop and R&B song whose instrumentation
consists of scratchy guitars, trap drums, slapped beats and sharp,
syncopated electronica . Lyrically, "On My Mind" talks about a one
night stand with someone the protagonist shouldn't be with,
having a dichotomy between heart and head. Though firmly
denied by Goulding, many critics considered it an answer song to
Ed Sheeran 's " Don't ".
The song received positive reviews from music critics, who
praised it for being a radio-friendly song, as well as Goulding's
delivery, with one critic calling it one of her best singles to date.
Commercially, "On My Mind" became another top-ten hit in the
United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and other five territories,
while reaching the top 20 in other seven countries. In the United
States, it has reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Its
western-themed music video was inspired by the film Thelma &
Louise and was directed by Emil Nava. It premiered on 21
September 2015, and it shows Goulding in a revenge story in Las
Vegas.
Background and release
On 14 September 2015, Goulding teased her fans on Instagram by
posting a "mysterious, semi-topless gif " with the date 17
September", announcing the song's release date. A day later, she
posted a 15-second clip of the song. [1]
Composition and lyrics
"On My Mind" was written by Ellie Goulding , Savan Kotecha, Max
Martin, and Ilya Salmanzadeh , with the latter two serving as the
song's producers. It was described as a "more commercial pop
sound" for the singer, who worked with the same team of writers
of her successful previous single "Love Me like You Do". Goulding
described its sound as "[...] very different for me. But I think it’s a
good different." [3] It is an electropop[4] and R&B song, [5][6][7]
with its instrumentation consisting in scratchy guitar, slapped
beats,[6] trap drums [8] and sharp, syncopated electronica , which
according to Idolator 's Bianca Gracie, "gladly strays away from
the rush of breezy synths that is currently ruling the genre." [9]
Matthew Norton of NME described it as "hyperactive, insistent
R&B with a bit of Rihanna in the 'eh's," [6] while Steven J.
Horowitz of Billboard and Maeve McDermott of USA Today both
perceived that its "wangy guitars" resemble The Police 's
" Message in a Bottle ". [8][10] During the song, Goulding takes a
"plain-speaking" approach, while towards the end she goes in a
"conciliatory" direction. [6]
Though denied by
Goulding, a handful of
criticis considered "On
My Mind" an answer
song to Ed Sheeran's
"Don't".
Lyrically, it talks about a one-night stand, [11] presenting a
dichotomy between heart and head, when we are with someone
we shouldn’t be with, or we want to be with someone we
shouldn’t be with. [2] Though denied by Goulding, "On My Mind"
was described by many critics as an answer song to Ed Sheeran's
" Don't " (2014). [6][8][12][13][14][15] According to Horton, while in
"Don't", Sheeran sings, "Don't fuck with my love", Goulding
responds in "On My Mind", "You don't mess with love/You mess
with the truth". [6] Q described it as a "guitar led, Swiftian tale of
a drunken hook up with a tattooed admirer" inspired by a time
when she was "on tour, drinking too much and going off the
rails". [16] Goulding commented to MTV News about its lyrical
content, claiming:
Critical reception
The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics .
Steven J. Horowitz of Billboard gave the song a rating of 3.5 out
of 5 stars, calling it a "surefire radio hit" and "a spicy kiss-off." [8]
Maeve McDermott of USA Today agreed, calling it "equally
ubiquitous as Martin's latest smashes," also naming it "a radio-
ready anthem". [10] Matthew Horton of NME perceived that
"[t]here's something of Sheeran in the delivery too," noting that
"Goulding sounds like she's toasting as she gets her point across
as economically as possible, quickfire lines filling dense, juddery
verses" and naming it a "promising switch, whatever the
intrigue." [6] Carolyn Menyes of Music Times noted that "[t]he
single maintains the drippy guitars and play of Goulding's hushed
vocals. However, the song gets launched to a new level with
some booming drums and a drop that's more similar to hip-hop
than something from the discography of Calvin Harris ." [17]
Brennan Carley of Spin went on to name it "one of her best
singles to date," [18] meanwhile Christina Garibaldi of MTV News
called it "an up-tempo track that checks all the boxes of what
makes a pop smash. It’s got an insanely catchy beat, a chorus
that will be stuck in your head for days and lyrics that make you
think." [15] Nolan Feeney of Time wrote that the song "works its
way between your synapses with a twitchy guitar riff and
Goulding’s lightning-quick verses about a relationship’s
squandered potential." [19] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the
song a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that the song
"presents the moment Miss Goulding becomes a pop
powerhouse," noting that "the track's Police-styled guitar grooves
and oscillating chorus [...] will weave in and around your
cerebrum but never quite escapes. The subject may be
ambiguous but one thing is for certain, this is Ellie stepping up
and moving on." [20]
While noting that "[i]t’s a fun enough song" and picking as one of
the essential tracks on the album, Katherine Flynn of
Consequence of Sound wrote that "it doesn’t invite multiple
listens." [21] Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly called it "
lively, flashy, confident earworm," [22] while Hazel Cills of
Pitchfork praised its "little well-done sass." [23] Jon Dolan wrote
for Rolling Stone that "Goulding's big voice is compacted into a
series of taut flares over clipped hi-hats and Police-like guitar
smears," [24] with musicOMH 's Rob Mesure agreeing, calling it a
"distant cousin of The Police‘s Message In A Bottle reconfigured
with deep bass drops." [25] Matt Collar of Allmusic echoed the
same thought, naming it "the Police-meets- Rihanna single [that]
seem at first like an odd fit for Goulding's highly resonant, throaty
chirp of a voice." [5]
Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, "On My Mind" debuted at number 7, the
week dated 1 October 2015, becoming the highest new chart
entry and Goulding's tenth top-ten hit. [26] The following week it
climbed to number 6, before peaking at number 5 a week later.
[27] In the United States, "On My Mind" debuted at number 22,
the week's highest debut, in addition to Goulding's highest debut
on that chart. [28] It also debuted at number 5 on Digital Songs
with 78,000 copies sold, and at number 44 on Streaming Songs
with 4.6 million streaming. [29] It has since reached number 13,
[30] and as of February 2016, it has sold 809,000 downloads. [31]
In Australia, the song started at number 15 on the ARIA Charts
and climbed to number 7 the following week, becoming her third
top-ten solo hit and sixth overall; it reached number 3 in its third
week. [32] In New Zealand, the song also proved to be successful,
debuting at number 5 and peaking at number 4. [33] It also
peaked inside the top-ten in Finland, Ireland and Scotland, [34][35]
while it reached the top-twenty in Belgium, Denmark, Hungary,
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42]
Music video
Background
On 25 August 2015, Goulding talked to Capital FM about the
concept of the music video, claiming: "Well it involves me and
another girl who’s really hot and we’re sort of like Thelma &
Louise ," she explained. "I guess [you’ll see it] in about a month’s
time. I’m very excited about it." [43] She also revealed that it was
shot in Las Vegas and directed by Emil Nava, saying: "It’s a weird
place. We went to this old casino and filmed stuff in there. I
worked with the director, Emil [Nava], I worked with him before
with Calvin Harris [he directed the " I Need Your Love " video]. He’s
a friend of mine and we wanted to do something really mad. We
wanted to ride some horses, and there’s a gangster who is a not
very good guy. It’s kind of got a Thelma and Louise thing about
it." [2] It was uploaded to Goulding's Vevo account on 21
September 2015.
Synopsis
At the beginning of the video, Goulding is seen in a Las Vegas
hotel room setting interspersed between various shots of casinos
and people riding horses. As the song begins, she is seen
standing in front of a mirror examining herself, before her lover
appears behind her. Between shots of Goulding singing towards
the camera in an empty blue room, her and her lover are seen at
different times in a hotel room and a ballroom together, and her
lover is seen drinking at a bar alone. Goulding is then shown in a
different setting standing in front of a caravan with a girl, her
accomplice, sitting in a chair beside her. The video cuts to an
aggressive argument between Goulding and her lover in their
hotel room, with him appearing multiple times in the same room
constantly shouting and yelling at her while she sits on the end of
the bed. The video gradually shows scenes of the falling apart of
their relationship, and now Goulding and her accomplice are
shown riding on horseback into Las Vegas and down the Las
Vegas Strip, set on revenge on Goulding's former lover. Several
shots of Goulding and her accomplice in a hair salon, her former
lover living his wealthy lifestyle and flirting with another woman
are shown while they continue to ride down the main strip. They
approach an unnamed casino, presumably owned by her former
lover, and enter the building on their horses while he counts his
money. The women are caught on camera riding through the
casino, while passing people playing on various poker machines.
Her accomplice is seen smashing an expensive vase with a
baseball bat interspersed with shots of their conversation in the
salon and the two women outside their caravan holding guns.
Later, the two women are shown riding into an area outside the
room her former lover is counting his money in, and her
accomplice brandishes a sawn-off shotgun, blasting the door to
the room open and frightening her former lover. They ride into the
room and stay in place, while her former lover argues his case
and pleads with them, while various nude glamour shots of
Goulding and scenes before the end of their relationship play in
between. Her accomplice takes the baseball bat and smashes the
lightbulb above them, darkening the room. Her former lover is
then seen tied to his chair with duct tape in the dimly lit room,
while Goulding and her accomplice ride away on their horses with
stacks of her former lover's money. Various scenes of the
aftermath are then shown, including the two women back in the
salon clinking their glasses, on a rooftop making it rain with
money and her accomplice blowing a hole in the casino ceiling
with the sawn-off shotgun. Goulding is then seen walking down a
hotel hallway and back in the empty blue room singing, and the
video ends with the two women riding off on their horses throwing
money in the air.
(Source:Wikipedia.Org)
Ellie Goulding from her third studio album Delirium (2015). It was
released as the album's lead single on 17 September 2015. It was
written by Goulding, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ilya
Salmanzadeh , and produced by Martin, Continuous and Ilya. "On
My Mind" is a electropop and R&B song whose instrumentation
consists of scratchy guitars, trap drums, slapped beats and sharp,
syncopated electronica . Lyrically, "On My Mind" talks about a one
night stand with someone the protagonist shouldn't be with,
having a dichotomy between heart and head. Though firmly
denied by Goulding, many critics considered it an answer song to
Ed Sheeran 's " Don't ".
The song received positive reviews from music critics, who
praised it for being a radio-friendly song, as well as Goulding's
delivery, with one critic calling it one of her best singles to date.
Commercially, "On My Mind" became another top-ten hit in the
United Kingdom, as well as in Australia and other five territories,
while reaching the top 20 in other seven countries. In the United
States, it has reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Its
western-themed music video was inspired by the film Thelma &
Louise and was directed by Emil Nava. It premiered on 21
September 2015, and it shows Goulding in a revenge story in Las
Vegas.
Background and release
On 14 September 2015, Goulding teased her fans on Instagram by
posting a "mysterious, semi-topless gif " with the date 17
September", announcing the song's release date. A day later, she
posted a 15-second clip of the song. [1]
Composition and lyrics
"On My Mind" was written by Ellie Goulding , Savan Kotecha, Max
Martin, and Ilya Salmanzadeh , with the latter two serving as the
song's producers. It was described as a "more commercial pop
sound" for the singer, who worked with the same team of writers
of her successful previous single "Love Me like You Do". Goulding
described its sound as "[...] very different for me. But I think it’s a
good different." [3] It is an electropop[4] and R&B song, [5][6][7]
with its instrumentation consisting in scratchy guitar, slapped
beats,[6] trap drums [8] and sharp, syncopated electronica , which
according to Idolator 's Bianca Gracie, "gladly strays away from
the rush of breezy synths that is currently ruling the genre." [9]
Matthew Norton of NME described it as "hyperactive, insistent
R&B with a bit of Rihanna in the 'eh's," [6] while Steven J.
Horowitz of Billboard and Maeve McDermott of USA Today both
perceived that its "wangy guitars" resemble The Police 's
" Message in a Bottle ". [8][10] During the song, Goulding takes a
"plain-speaking" approach, while towards the end she goes in a
"conciliatory" direction. [6]
Though denied by
Goulding, a handful of
criticis considered "On
My Mind" an answer
song to Ed Sheeran's
"Don't".
Lyrically, it talks about a one-night stand, [11] presenting a
dichotomy between heart and head, when we are with someone
we shouldn’t be with, or we want to be with someone we
shouldn’t be with. [2] Though denied by Goulding, "On My Mind"
was described by many critics as an answer song to Ed Sheeran's
" Don't " (2014). [6][8][12][13][14][15] According to Horton, while in
"Don't", Sheeran sings, "Don't fuck with my love", Goulding
responds in "On My Mind", "You don't mess with love/You mess
with the truth". [6] Q described it as a "guitar led, Swiftian tale of
a drunken hook up with a tattooed admirer" inspired by a time
when she was "on tour, drinking too much and going off the
rails". [16] Goulding commented to MTV News about its lyrical
content, claiming:
Critical reception
The song received mostly positive reviews from music critics .
Steven J. Horowitz of Billboard gave the song a rating of 3.5 out
of 5 stars, calling it a "surefire radio hit" and "a spicy kiss-off." [8]
Maeve McDermott of USA Today agreed, calling it "equally
ubiquitous as Martin's latest smashes," also naming it "a radio-
ready anthem". [10] Matthew Horton of NME perceived that
"[t]here's something of Sheeran in the delivery too," noting that
"Goulding sounds like she's toasting as she gets her point across
as economically as possible, quickfire lines filling dense, juddery
verses" and naming it a "promising switch, whatever the
intrigue." [6] Carolyn Menyes of Music Times noted that "[t]he
single maintains the drippy guitars and play of Goulding's hushed
vocals. However, the song gets launched to a new level with
some booming drums and a drop that's more similar to hip-hop
than something from the discography of Calvin Harris ." [17]
Brennan Carley of Spin went on to name it "one of her best
singles to date," [18] meanwhile Christina Garibaldi of MTV News
called it "an up-tempo track that checks all the boxes of what
makes a pop smash. It’s got an insanely catchy beat, a chorus
that will be stuck in your head for days and lyrics that make you
think." [15] Nolan Feeney of Time wrote that the song "works its
way between your synapses with a twitchy guitar riff and
Goulding’s lightning-quick verses about a relationship’s
squandered potential." [19] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the
song a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that the song
"presents the moment Miss Goulding becomes a pop
powerhouse," noting that "the track's Police-styled guitar grooves
and oscillating chorus [...] will weave in and around your
cerebrum but never quite escapes. The subject may be
ambiguous but one thing is for certain, this is Ellie stepping up
and moving on." [20]
While noting that "[i]t’s a fun enough song" and picking as one of
the essential tracks on the album, Katherine Flynn of
Consequence of Sound wrote that "it doesn’t invite multiple
listens." [21] Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly called it "
lively, flashy, confident earworm," [22] while Hazel Cills of
Pitchfork praised its "little well-done sass." [23] Jon Dolan wrote
for Rolling Stone that "Goulding's big voice is compacted into a
series of taut flares over clipped hi-hats and Police-like guitar
smears," [24] with musicOMH 's Rob Mesure agreeing, calling it a
"distant cousin of The Police‘s Message In A Bottle reconfigured
with deep bass drops." [25] Matt Collar of Allmusic echoed the
same thought, naming it "the Police-meets- Rihanna single [that]
seem at first like an odd fit for Goulding's highly resonant, throaty
chirp of a voice." [5]
Commercial performance
In the United Kingdom, "On My Mind" debuted at number 7, the
week dated 1 October 2015, becoming the highest new chart
entry and Goulding's tenth top-ten hit. [26] The following week it
climbed to number 6, before peaking at number 5 a week later.
[27] In the United States, "On My Mind" debuted at number 22,
the week's highest debut, in addition to Goulding's highest debut
on that chart. [28] It also debuted at number 5 on Digital Songs
with 78,000 copies sold, and at number 44 on Streaming Songs
with 4.6 million streaming. [29] It has since reached number 13,
[30] and as of February 2016, it has sold 809,000 downloads. [31]
In Australia, the song started at number 15 on the ARIA Charts
and climbed to number 7 the following week, becoming her third
top-ten solo hit and sixth overall; it reached number 3 in its third
week. [32] In New Zealand, the song also proved to be successful,
debuting at number 5 and peaking at number 4. [33] It also
peaked inside the top-ten in Finland, Ireland and Scotland, [34][35]
while it reached the top-twenty in Belgium, Denmark, Hungary,
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. [36][37][38][39][40][41][42]
Music video
Background
On 25 August 2015, Goulding talked to Capital FM about the
concept of the music video, claiming: "Well it involves me and
another girl who’s really hot and we’re sort of like Thelma &
Louise ," she explained. "I guess [you’ll see it] in about a month’s
time. I’m very excited about it." [43] She also revealed that it was
shot in Las Vegas and directed by Emil Nava, saying: "It’s a weird
place. We went to this old casino and filmed stuff in there. I
worked with the director, Emil [Nava], I worked with him before
with Calvin Harris [he directed the " I Need Your Love " video]. He’s
a friend of mine and we wanted to do something really mad. We
wanted to ride some horses, and there’s a gangster who is a not
very good guy. It’s kind of got a Thelma and Louise thing about
it." [2] It was uploaded to Goulding's Vevo account on 21
September 2015.
Synopsis
At the beginning of the video, Goulding is seen in a Las Vegas
hotel room setting interspersed between various shots of casinos
and people riding horses. As the song begins, she is seen
standing in front of a mirror examining herself, before her lover
appears behind her. Between shots of Goulding singing towards
the camera in an empty blue room, her and her lover are seen at
different times in a hotel room and a ballroom together, and her
lover is seen drinking at a bar alone. Goulding is then shown in a
different setting standing in front of a caravan with a girl, her
accomplice, sitting in a chair beside her. The video cuts to an
aggressive argument between Goulding and her lover in their
hotel room, with him appearing multiple times in the same room
constantly shouting and yelling at her while she sits on the end of
the bed. The video gradually shows scenes of the falling apart of
their relationship, and now Goulding and her accomplice are
shown riding on horseback into Las Vegas and down the Las
Vegas Strip, set on revenge on Goulding's former lover. Several
shots of Goulding and her accomplice in a hair salon, her former
lover living his wealthy lifestyle and flirting with another woman
are shown while they continue to ride down the main strip. They
approach an unnamed casino, presumably owned by her former
lover, and enter the building on their horses while he counts his
money. The women are caught on camera riding through the
casino, while passing people playing on various poker machines.
Her accomplice is seen smashing an expensive vase with a
baseball bat interspersed with shots of their conversation in the
salon and the two women outside their caravan holding guns.
Later, the two women are shown riding into an area outside the
room her former lover is counting his money in, and her
accomplice brandishes a sawn-off shotgun, blasting the door to
the room open and frightening her former lover. They ride into the
room and stay in place, while her former lover argues his case
and pleads with them, while various nude glamour shots of
Goulding and scenes before the end of their relationship play in
between. Her accomplice takes the baseball bat and smashes the
lightbulb above them, darkening the room. Her former lover is
then seen tied to his chair with duct tape in the dimly lit room,
while Goulding and her accomplice ride away on their horses with
stacks of her former lover's money. Various scenes of the
aftermath are then shown, including the two women back in the
salon clinking their glasses, on a rooftop making it rain with
money and her accomplice blowing a hole in the casino ceiling
with the sawn-off shotgun. Goulding is then seen walking down a
hotel hallway and back in the empty blue room singing, and the
video ends with the two women riding off on their horses throwing
money in the air.
(Source:Wikipedia.Org)