Ellie Goulding returned to Late Show With Steven Colbert on Monday to perform her new single, “Flux.” She previously made her debut on the show last month when she delivered “Close to Me.”
On Monday, Goulding and her backing band, which included backup female singers and a string section, appeared at first in black and white. As the piano-led, strings-tipped ballad about regret and longing for past love progressed to the emotive chorus, Goulding appeared in full color for the remainder of the performance.
The colorized approach highlighted the heartfelt yearning of the chorus. “I’m still in love with the idea of loving you/It’s a state of flux, but it’s not enough,” she sang. “And I’m still in love with the idea of loving you/It’s a state of flux, I just keep holding on.”
“‘Flux’ is a song that I wrote entirely from the heart that seemed to capture how I felt about not ever being able to let go of a past love, even though it was over for a reason,” Goulding said in a statement about the song that accompanied its video. “I feel like I am in a constant state of change and upheaval and it makes me unable to root myself and get over things easily.
“On this record I found myself taking inspiration from different relationships and stages in my life,” she continued. “The past two years have been the first time I’ve really been able to confront my survival techniques throughout my work – to be able to reflect on how being on tour nonstop, performing, and having to be ‘OK’ all the time affected me as a human being and how it took its toll on my relationships.”
Earlier in the month, Goulding released new track, “In This Together,” which serves as a companion to the Netflix original series, Our Planet.