{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}} {{Use British English|date=February 2015}} {{Infobox song | name = The Writer | cover = Ellie Goulding - The Writer.png | alt = | type = single | artist = [[Ellie Goulding]] | album = [[Lights (Ellie Goulding album)|Lights]] | released = 6 August 2010 | recorded = | studio = | genre = | length = 4:11 | label = [[Polydor Records|Polydor]] | writer = * Ellie Goulding * Jonny Lattimer | producer = [[Starsmith]] | prev_title = [[Guns and Horses]] | prev_year = 2010 | next_title = [[Your Song#Ellie Goulding version|Your Song]] | next_year = 2010 | misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|H-ru2glqXAg|"The Writer"}}}} }}
"'''The Writer'''" is a song by English singer and songwriter [[Ellie Goulding]] from her debut album, ''[[Lights (Ellie Goulding album)|Lights]]'' (2010). It was released as the album's fourth and final (not including the ''Bright Lights'' re-release) single on 6 August 2010.
==Background== Goulding told [[BSkyB|Sky Songs]] that "The Writer" is "the most personal and emotional song I've written yet", adding, "It's about how you'd do anything and change absolutely ''everything'' about yourself if necessary, just to be noticed by this one person."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://songs.sky.com/article/Ellie+Goulding+-+In+Her+Own+Words/0ad22aafc0a87116478454b71ba3b005 |title=Ellie Goulding – In Her Own Words |publisher=[[BSkyB|Sky Songs]] |accessdate=6 April 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref>
==Critical reception== ''[[The Observer]]''{{'}}s Polly Vernon named "The Writer" the "love song of the summer" and called it "raw, eloquent, generally gorgeous", while describing Goulding's voice as "ghostly sweet, saved from sickliness by guttural [[Björk]]-ish quirks."<ref>{{cite web |last=Vernon |first=Polly |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/aug/08/ellie-goulding-writer-summer-song |title=Ellie Goulding's summer of love |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |date=8 August 2010 |accessdate=6 November 2010}}</ref> OddOne of Unreality Shout felt that "[n]ot once has she sounded more warming than in this beautifully written love song of devotion to a lover", but noted that "being her first ballad, she does fall at some hurdles, like the middle 8: whilst Ellie's breathy vocals may appear to bridge the emotion between the two final choruses, it actually does feel a bit like she's gone back to her colder self, not making the emotion clearly defined despite the very comforting lyrics."<ref>{{cite web |author=OddOne |url=http://unrealityshout.com/blogs/single-review-ellie-goulding-the-writer |title=Single Review: Ellie Goulding – 'The Writer |publisher=Unreality Shout |date=15 August 2010 |accessdate=6 November 2010 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018050851/http://unrealityshout.com/blogs/single-review-ellie-goulding-the-writer |archivedate=18 October 2010}}</ref>
Ryan Love of [[Digital Spy]] gave the track three out of five stars and wrote that "[[Starsmith]]'s typically twinkly production allows ''those'' vocals to shine through as she urges a potential boyfriend to help her become just the right kinda gal for him—and the overall effect is as sweet and pretty as a pink frosted cupcake."<ref>{{cite web |last=Love |first=Ryan |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/review/a259643/ellie-goulding-the-writer.html |title=Ellie Goulding: 'The Writer' |publisher=[[Digital Spy]] |date=11 August 2010 |accessdate=6 November 2010}}</ref> Michael Cragg of ''[[MusicOMH]]'' compared the song to [[Dido (singer)|Dido]] "with a more [[four on the floor (music)|four-to-the-floor]] backing."<ref>{{cite web |last=Cragg |first=Michael |url=http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/ellie-goulding-lights |title=Ellie Goulding – Lights |date=March 2010 |website=[[MusicOMH]] |accessdate=6 November 2010}}</ref> ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''{{'}}s Stephen Troussé, however, referred negatively to it as "a big bluster of a song, with a chorus where the spectre of [[the Cranberries]]' [[Dolores O'Riordan]] is all too vivid, whose future success could be Goulding's undoing."<ref>{{cite web |last=Troussé |first=Stephen |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13995-lights/ |title=Ellie Goulding: Lights |website=[[Pitchfork Media]] |date=5 March 2010 |accessdate=6 November 2010}}</ref>
==Commercial performance== "The Writer" debuted at number 101 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] for the week ending 24 July 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/100724cluk.txt |title=CHART: CLUK Update 24.07.2010 (wk28) |publisher=The Zobbel Website |accessdate=16 January 2014}}</ref> entering the top 100 at number sixty-eight the following week.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theofficialcharts.com/singles-chart/ |title=Official UK Singles Top 100 |publisher=[[Official Charts Company]] |date=7 August 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808173101/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/singles-chart/ |archivedate=8 August 2010 |accessdate=16 January 2014}}</ref> In its fifth week on the chart,<ref name="UKchart"/> the single peaked at number nineteen with 12,446 copies sold.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/eminem-and-flo-rida-top-charts/043365 |title=Eminem and Flo-Rida top charts |work=[[Music Week]] |publisher=Intent Media |date=16 August 2010 |accessdate=16 January 2014}}</ref>
==Music video== The music video for "The Writer" was directed by Chris Cottam and filmed at [[Happisburgh Lighthouse]] in [[Happisburgh]], [[Norfolk]] in June 2010 and was uploaded onto Goulding's official [[YouTube]] channel on 9 July 2010.<ref>{{cite web |last=Knight |first=David |url=http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2010/07/14/ellie-goulding’s-writer-chris-cottam |title=Ellie Goulding's The Writer by Chris Cottam |publisher=Promo News |date=14 July 2010 |accessdate=20 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201144555/http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2010/07/14/ellie-goulding%E2%80%99s-writer-chris-cottam |archive-date=1 February 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ru2glqXAg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/H-ru2glqXAg |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live |title=Ellie Goulding : The Writer |via=[[YouTube]] |date=9 July 2010 |accessdate=23 October 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The video shows Goulding walking around a field and exploring Happisburgh Lighthouse. It also includes in-studio sequences of her in front of a bright screen, giving the impression that she is in front of the actual light of the lighthouse. {{clear}}
==Track listings== {{Track listing | headline = UK digital download – EP<ref name="itunes">{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/gb/album/the-writer-ep/384874031 |title=The Writer – EP by Ellie Goulding |date=January 2010 |publisher=[[iTunes Store]] UK. [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100916084211/http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-writer-ep/id384874031 |archive-date=16 September 2010 |url-status=live |access-date=16 October 2010}}</ref> | title1 = The Writer | length1 = 4:14 | title2 = The Writer | note2 = Live Acoustic Version | length2 = 4:12 | title3 = The Writer | note3 = [[Alan Braxe]] Remix | length3 = 6:05 | title4 = The Writer | note4 = Friend's Electric Remix | length4 = 3:50 }}
{{Track listing | headline = UK promo CD single<ref>"The Writer" (UK promo CD single liner notes). [[Ellie Goulding]]. [[Polydor Records]]. 2010. WRITER1.</ref> | title1 = The Writer | note1 = Starsmith Edit | length1 = 3:43 | title2 = The Writer | note2 = Album Version | length2 = 4:14 | title3 = The Writer | note3 = Instrumental | length3 = 4:13 }}
==Personnel== Credits were adapted from the liner notes of ''Lights''.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Lights |type=CD liner notes |others=[[Ellie Goulding]] |publisher=[[Polydor Records]] |year=2010 |id=2732799}}</ref>
* Ellie Goulding – vocals, acoustic guitar * Stevie Blacke – live strings * Joe Clegg – drums * Julian Kindred – drum engineering * Naweed – mastering * [[Starsmith]] – bass, drum programming, keyboards, production * [[Mark 'Spike' Stent]] – mixing * Traffic – design
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |+ "The Writer" chart performance ! scope="col"| Chart (2010) ! scope="col"| Peak<br>position |- !scope="row"|[[European Hot 100 Singles]]<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Hits of the World |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |volume=122 |issue=34 |date=28 August 2010 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref> |align="center"|60 |- !scope="row"{{single chart|Scotland|17|date=2010-08-21|accessdate=22 February 2013}} |- !scope="row"{{single chart|UK|19|date=2010-08-21|accessdate=16 January 2014|refname="UKchart"}} |}
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
{{Ellie Goulding}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Writer, The}} [[Category:2010 singles]] [[Category:2010 songs]] [[Category:Ellie Goulding songs]] [[Category:Folk ballads]] [[Category:Polydor Records singles]] [[Category:Song recordings produced by Starsmith]] [[Category:Songs written by Ellie Goulding]] [[Category:Synth-pop ballads]] [[Category:Songs written by Jonny Lattimer]]