Ellie Goulding releases “Close to Me” clip shot in Budapest

Budapest, Hungary – On Wednesday, British pop singer Ellie Goulding released the clip of her newest song, Close To Me, entirely shot in Budapest.

Featuring Diplo and Rae Sremmurd rapper Swae Lee, Close To Me follows the award-winning UK vocalist, surrounded by a group of Magritte-inspired dancers, through a series of scenic sites and among the most iconic locations of the Hungarian capital city, including the Fisherman’s Bastion, the Varkert Bazaar, Buda castle and the Gellert baths.

Produced in cooperation with the Hungarian Tourism Agency and local production company Admiral Film, the Close to Me clip is part of the “Spice of Europe” campaign, an initiative aimed at promoting Budapest as one of Europe’s most attractive destinations.

This would explain why the clip of Ellie Goulding, featuring some of the city’s greatest landmarks through incredible drone shots, may at times resemble more a tourism promotional ad for Budapest than a music video clip.

Already viewed 3.5 million times since Wednesday, Close to Me is the second collaboration between Ellie Goulding and Diplo, who already worked together in 2015 for the track Powerful.

Ellie Goulding, who started building her audience on the internet in the late 2000’s, first caught the public’s attention with Starry Eyed and Guns and Horses in 2010 – when her debut album, Lights, was released. She quickly rose to the top of the charts, released her second album Halcyon in 2012 and reached worldwide fame with Love me like you do, soundtrack single for the movie Fifty Shades of Grey – viewed nearly 2 billion times on YouTube. Since the release of her last album, Delirium, in 2015, Ellie Goulding worked on Still Falling for You, a track for Bridget Jones’ Baby, and featured on Kygo’s 2017 single First Time.

It’s unclear at this time whether Close to Me is the preview of Goulding’s fourth album or a one-off single.