Kygo drops collaboration with Ellie Goulding as new single
Kygo is still very much in demand. After a long string of hit singles over the past few years, the Norwegian producer and DJ came back earlier this year with the single ‘It Ain’t Me‘, featuring vocals by American pop star Selena Gomez. For his next one ‘First Time’, he worked with another A-lister, British hit sensation Ellie Goulding. For Goulding this is the first new material since her Delirium album and Bridget Jones’s Baby soundtrack ‘Still Falling For You’. ‘First Time’ sounds exactly like you would expect it to…

Ever since the release of her masterpiece Halcyon album, Goulding went into a more commercial, radio pop direction and ‘First Time’ is definitely not an exception to this rule. For Kygo it is nothing new either, building on the tropical house trend of which he was an important influencer. This at the same time means that their collab brings literally nothing exciting or refreshing to the table. It is as predictable as can be: the production, the build up, the mediocre instrumental breakdown and even the lyrics about the wild years and the reckless love affair one could see coming from miles ahead. ‘First Time’ is not necessarily a badly written song and it does still have potential to become a hit single, but I can’t help but wonder why an artist like Ellie Goulding would be keen to put her name to this track. For both Kygo and Goulding there is no artistic progression whatsoever and it just sounds exactly like about a 100 other singles released in the past two years. This surely is a missed opportunity to make more out of a collaboration of two successful recording artists.