Much like her predecessors Kate Bush and Imogen Heap, British vocalist Ellie Goulding stands at the forefront of independent-minded mainstream pop. With her unique soprano and knack for writing catchy yet emotionally earnest songs, Goulding quickly rose to the top of the U.K. charts with her breakthrough 2010 debut, Lights. Her folk-inflected pop sound increasingly drew from electronic influences -- heard on 2012's dubstep-influenced Halcyon -- and later touched upon dance music and ambient synth pop for her third studio album, 2015's Delirium. In 2020, she scored her third U.K. number one with her fourth set, the introspective Brightest Blue. Goulding continued to expand her sound, releasing the 2020 holiday EP Songbook for Christmas, before pivoting back to the dancefloor with the euphoric synths of 2023's Higher than Heaven.