Burn by Ellie Goulding Song Info
"Burn" is a song by English recording artist Ellie Goulding from Halcyon Days, the reissue of her second studio album, Halcyon. The song was written by Ryan Tedder, Ellie Goulding, Greg Kurstin, Noel Zancanella and Brent Kutzle, while production was handled by Kurstin and vocal production was done by Tedder. It was released on 5 July 2013 as the lead single from the reissue. Upon its release, "Burn" was met with a mixed response from music critics, who praised it as "catchy" and noted it as one of Goulding's most radio-friendly songs to date, while others felt it was not memorable. It earned Goulding her first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, selling 116,857 copies in its first week and staying atop the chart for three consecutive weeks. The track attained similar success internationally, reaching the top ten in countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and Sweden, and became Goulding's third single to reach the top twenty in the United States. Background "Burn" was originally recorded by English singer Leona Lewis for her third studio album, Glassheart (2012), but it was eventually omitted from the final track listing. According to Jacques Peterson of Popdust, "While Ellie's 'Burn' is a little more indie-pop sounding, Leona's breaks into derivative tropical synths on the second verse in an obvious attempt to match the Stargate sound that was such a popular radio staple a few years ago." Critical reception "Burn" has received positive to mixed reviews from music critics. Sam Lansky of Idolator wrote that, compared to Lewis's original version, Goulding's "distinctive" voice makes the song "trippier and more ethereal, but the commercial songcraft makes it radio candy—maybe the most mainstream single she's had since 'Lights.'" Lewis Corner of Digital Spy, giving the track four out of five stars, opined that Goulding "presents what is most likely to go down as one of her more radio-friendly singles to date", adding that her voice "also glides above the dream-pop glow to ear-pleasing effect". Despite praising Goulding's vocals as "angelic and ethereal", Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush rated the song three out of five stars, stating, "While 'Burn' is undeniably catchy, it's not the singer's most memorable track to date." Sciarretto concluded that it "doesn't sound like the pivotal track which will elevate her career even further in the mainstream radio world, but her fans will no doubt love it." Rolling Stone's Joe Gross gave "Burn" two and a half out of five stars and dubbed it "a completely inoffensive slice of hands-in-the-air British pop; you can expect it to show up on So You Think You Can Dance before it burns out." Commercial performance "Burn" debuted atop the UK Singles Chart with first-week sales of 116,857 copies, becoming Goulding's first number-one single on the chart. The single retained the number-one position for two additional weeks, selling 80,095 and 62,270 copies in its second and third weeks, respectively. In its fourth week, the song was knocked off the top spot by Katy Perry's "Roar", falling to number two with 51,924 units sold. In Australia, the song entered the ARIA Singles Chart at number seventy-two, before entering the top fifty at number fourteen. It peaked at number six in its fifth week on the chart, becoming Goulding's highest-charting solo single in the country. Two weeks later, "Burn" was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments in excess of 70,000 units. In the 15th week of her song on the Billboard 200, it jumped up to position no.13 making it the second most successful single after Lights (which made it to number 2) in the US for Ellie.
