Future & Metro Boomin, Drake, Young Thug, Lil Baby, Big Sean and French Montana all have this in common in their discography.
Ellie Goulding performs at Dick Clark's New Year's Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2024 in Hollywood, California.
Christopher Polk for Penske Media
“Mile High Memories” from Future and Metro Boomin's latest album We Still Don't Trust You awakened an unexpected pop memory: The song contains a sample of Ellie Goulding's 2012 track “Hanging On.” And it's far from the only rap song to test the English electro-pop singer-songwriter.
Drake famously sampled the two-time Grammy-nominated artist's “Don't Say a Word” on “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” with the help of Jay-Z, who pointed out in a 2020 TikTok video. her take on Active Child's “Hanging On” and The Weeknd's “High For This,” the latter of which is sampled on Soulja Boy's “Rockstar,” have expanded the stories of the original songs and brought them into new genres. And her throwback intros (think Missy Elliott's “Work It”) from “Hanging On” and “Starry Eyed” are thrilling to follow on French Montana's “Mile High Memories” and “I Know,” featuring Chinx.
An Ellie Goulding sample in rap music is so cool, Young Thug had to use it twice. He and Rich Homie Quan sampled “Beating Heart” on “Love Me” in August 2015, and a month later, Thug sampled “Hanging On” on “Calling Your Name.” (“Hanging On” received a remix by British rapper Tinie Tempah.) And the MC's history of sampling with EG led to an actual collaboration between the two: Goulding tapped Big Sean for “Easy Lover” from the latter her studio album Higher than Heaven after he sampled “Fighter Plane” on his song “High,” featuring Wiz Khalifa and Chiddy Bang.
Advertising sign rounded up 11 rap songs that have tried Ellie Goulding, in order from newest to oldest.
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Future & Metro Boomin, “Mile High Memories”
Future and Metro Boomin's “Mile High Memories” from their latest collaborative album We Still Don't Trust You sample Goulding's electrifying cover of Active Child's “Hanging On” from his 2011 debut album You're all I see. Inserting it backwards — “ ”
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Lil Baby, “In A Minute”
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Fivio Foreign feat. Lil Tjay & Yung Bleu, “World Watching”
“World Watching” by Fivio Foreign, featuring Lil Tjay and Yung Bleu, from the album 2022 BIBLE samples Goulding's 2010 Hot 100 No. 2 smash “Lights” from Bright lights reissue of her self-titled debut album. Fivio sampled other 2010s songs on his debut album, such as The Chainsmokers' “New York City” on “City of Gods” (featuring Ye and Alicia Keys) and Far East Movement's “Rocketeer” on “Paris to Tokyo” with The Kid LAROI.
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French Montana feat. Chinx, “I know”
“I Know” by French Montana featuring Chinx, from his 2020 album CB5 sample of Goulding's 2010 track “Starry Eyed” from her debut album Lights. Her throwback introduction — “Oh, oh, starry eyes/ Hip, oh, sta-aaa—/ Oh, oh, deye-yrrats/ swolg ydobyrevE, starry eyes” — is heard throughout “I Know.”
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Soulja Boy, “Rockstar”
Soulja Boy's “Rockstar” from his 2016 mixtape of the same name samples Goulding's chilling cover of The Weeknd's “High For This” from his 2011 mixtape House of Balloons. Goulding and The Weeknd both contributed Hot 100 No. 3 hits of 2015 Fifty Shades of Gray (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack): She performed “Love Me Like You Do,” which was nominated for two Grammys and a Golden Globe, and he performed “Earned It,” which was up for three Grammys (winning one for Best R&B Performance) and one Oscar.
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Vic Mensa & Skrillex, “No Chill”
Vic Mensa and Skrillex's 2016 collaboration “No Chill” sampled the Hot 100 No. 100 hit by Goulding “Explosions” from her 2012 album Kingfisher. The intro to the opera is heard on 'No Chill'.
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Young Thug, “Calling Your Name”
Young Thug's “Calling Your Name” from his 2015 mixtape Age of Slime samples Goulding's “Hanging On” from 2013; Halcyon days reissue of her second album. The first half of her first verse — “You know we can get away/ Why I'm calling your name” — is sampled and looped throughout “Calling Your Name,” and Thugger even harmonizes with Goulding on the intro and outro of his song with a screaming falsetto.
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Rich Homie Quan & Young Thug, “Love Me”
“Love Me” by Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug from the 2015 album No Label Vol. 2 samples Goulding's “Beating Heart” from 2014; Divergent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Goulding's song's chorus — which begins with the line “Wanna listen your beating heart tonight” — is faintly heard throughout “Love Me,” which includes the Thug-inspired hook of “I want you to love me forever.”
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Drake & Jay-Z, “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2”
Drake and Jay-Z's “Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2” from their 2013 album Nothing was the same samples Goulding's “Don't Say a Word,” the first track from her 2012 album Kingfisher. Her ethereal lead vocal riffs are sampled and released throughout “Pound Cake,” which peaked at No. 65 on the Hot 100 and No. 24 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
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Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa & Chiddy Bang, “High”
“High” by Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa and Chiddy Bang from the former's 2011 debut album Finally Famous samples Goulding's 'Fighter Plane' on the B-side to her 2009 debut single 'Under the Sheets'. Twelve years later, she chose Big Sean to be the featured artist on her single “Easy Lover” from her 2023 album. Higher than Heaven. “Easy Lover” reached No. 21 on Adult Pop Airplay and No. 29 on Pop Airplay.
“We've stayed in touch over the years because he's done samples for me a few times,” Goulding said Advertising sign in 2022. “I always feel there's something very special about someone who appreciates me so early as an artist, so I've stayed in touch with everyone since that time, especially him because I think he's consistently been a brilliant artist. At some point we were going to do a collaboration and it happened to be this song.”
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Lupe Fiasco, “Lightwork”
