The UK is having a daisy and chocolate romantic affair with new talent Ellie Goulding. She is the most recent winner of the Critics Choice Award at the BRIT Award show, also taking first place honors in the BBC sound poll of 2010. Goulding is no Lady Gaga, but that might just be because she succeeds in having a good romance where Gaga gets off on being bad.

The 22-year-old Goulding has been composing folk tunes on her guitar since she was a mere teenage lass in the small region of Herefordshire, England (which sounds more romantic if you say it like Hugh Grant would). And while she claims that when writing she can hear the songs in all of their techno-pop glory, a part of me wonders if at heart she’s just a folk singer that wanted to shine with glitter instead of with blood, sweat and tears. Because glittery she is, sparkly she’s become, and dance anthems she’s created enough of on her debut album, Lights, to make every club-going, spandex-wearing, fake-tanning diva get her groove on—big time.

The thing about Goulding that might get lost in all the "lights" currently shining on her from Britain’s foggy skies is the fact that there is some deeply rooted talent hiding beneath all the glitz. But sometimes that talent can be hard to recognize when it’s doused in synth-laden pop tunes. Her lyrics are stellar, her voice is multi-faceted and beautiful. She’s got the key ingredients of being a star, but her producers (Starsmith and Fraser T. Smith) and her entourage probably don’t want to stop at stardom. She needs SUPERSTAR emblazoned across her bosom in a tight fitting t-shirt. At least that’s where I see this career heading, and maybe it’s what she wants.

Goulding said that the album "is made up of songs that all started on a guitar over a period of about two years. A number of the songs vent romantic victories and failures." The first song ever written by Goulding, "Wish I Stayed," is featured on the album, and she said, "Though I write on guitar, I hear the entire sound of songs in my head. And Fin [Starsmith] is someone who understands."

The album is catchy, the songs are danceable and memorable, the track titles are interesting. It all sizzles and I think Goulding is on her way to becoming "the next big thing." But while the album is good, it occasionally dips into middle-of-the-road commercialism. She’s channeling some Florence + the Machine’s folktronica, with the swaying of Shakira’s hips thrown in. Her single, “Starry Eyed” finds her lovestruck as she sings “You look at me, it’s like you hit me with lightning." The follow-up single, “Under the Sheets,” twinges with bitterness as she prettily pouts, “You left a bloodstain on the floor like all the boys before.”

The songs, the album, the singer herself were all designed to seduce the pop charts, and seduce them they will. She’ll play coy, that Ellie, but she’ll be placing first on a lot of lists this year and we all know the reason why.

Track List:
1. Guns and Horses
2. Starry Eyed
3. This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)
4. Under The Sheets
5. The Writer
6. Every Time You Go
7. Wish I Stayed
8. Your Biggest Mistake
9. I’ll Hold My Breath
10. Salt Skin