Artist of the Week: Ellie Goulding

There are not many musicians who manage to score big with their first effort like Ellie Goulding. Making a breakthrough in her home country U.K. with "An Introduction to Ellie Goulding [EP]", the 25-year-old girl didn't need a long time to have her music received by Americans.

The 2010 EP spawned such singles as "Starry Eyed" and "Your Song" which were charting high across the pond, but it was "Lights" which got people in the U.S. hooked to her. It peaked at No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100 and remains on the Top 10 of the chart in its 35th week. The song is included in her first studio album "Lights" and its re-release "Bright Lights".

In the same year she made her name in U.S. music industry, Goulding received some honors in England. She topped the BBC's annual Sound of the year poll and won the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards, following the footsteps of Adele who achieved the same feat in 2008.

While her song "Lights" is still high on demands, the Hereford-born singer has already recorded new materials to be featured in her upcoming second studio installment "Halcyon". Due October 8 in U.K., the set has already been teased with the release of the lead single "Anything Could Happen".

"This album for me is a journey from dark into light from confusion to understanding... I didn't set out to write a break-up record but I think it became one," she once said about the album. She additionally shared, "A lot of my songs on this record are about the ocean and water."