Ellie Goulding Stars in New Short Film - Watch it here.

Following her recent sold-out UK tour and Q Award for Best Solo Artist, Ellie Goulding stars in a new short film - ‘Tom And Issy’ – which premiered today Vevo.

Written by Stefan Georgiou and Sam Bern, who have recently finished their debut feature film Dead Cat and been selected as Screen Internationals Stars Of Tomorrow, Tom And Issy follows the titular flatmates as Tom whisks Issy away from her unappreciative boyfriend to drive around London for the day daring each other to do things they’ve never done before. It culminates in an open mic night in a rooftop bar where Issy hopes to find it within herself to sing in public for the first time. It’s a story that captures the intricate complications and excitement of falling in love.

Ellie Goulding and her music do not disappoint.

Ellie Goulding Live at Cardiff University's Student Union

Cardiff Student Union's Great Hall has usually quite a few big names and concerts on display, but perhaps it is not as often that two great female voices come together in a single concert. Ellie Goulding's concert was opened by Lulu James, an amazing singer and performer from the UK. She started her show covered in black clothes - something like the evil old lady from Snow White – to then remove her veil whilst singing with her deep sultry voice, revealing a sparkly headdress and a black swimsuit. James sang sweet songs like Be Safe and Sweetest Thing and even the amazing Closer with her very provoking vocal. Lulu James has a powerful voice and an artistic figure, which seems to get associated to Grace Jones quite a lot for that image. She must have brought quite the crowd as some people seemed to know all her stuff, however, to some like me – she was a very pleasant surprise. James led a static crowd waiting for Goulding.

“I am wearing a skirt that's also like...shorts. And that's great, because I hate being a girl.”

That was the opening line when Ellie Goulding walked on stage talking about her outfit to a crowd screaming and cheering. She also described herself as a shy girl, something that you would not really guess by her range of voice and how dominant she is on stage. Goulding's songs have an amazing beat live, and it helps that she plays drums on stage – driving the crowd wild. She also asked the crowd to dance and said she could see the boys not enjoying it as much. She then proceeded to sing and point out at guys who were not dancing – all in good fun. Many classic songs were sung on stage like Explosions, Figure 8, Hanging On and the singer even explained that Elton John was very supportive of her cover of Your Song. One of the concert highlights for me, was perhaps her acoustic version of Guns and Horses, where she picked up a guitar and strummed it while singing and her voice sounded even deeper. Overall, Goulding really puts up quite a show where you can't really leave disappointed. She interacts with the crowd, she sings and she entertains – showing a lot of respect for all the fans there to see her. 

Ellie Goulding with her guitar 

Lulu James and her crown looking headdress

Words and images by Andy Love