There's a wealth of empirical evidence to suggest melding folk and pop is a bad idea. It's an announcement that could make a strong man wake up in a cold sweat. The other thing Goulding keeps Вsaying in interviews is that it's her intent to meld folk and pop, via the electronic ministrations of producer Starsmith. This is what close proximity to the music industry does to people. It was as if persons Вunknown but of wicked intent had noted Goulding's regular protestations of ordinariness in interviews вЂ“ 'I'm quite normal,' she kept saying to the Observer's Paul Morley recently вЂ“ and decided to offer her a cautionary glimpse into the future. The 23-year-old looked a little discombobulated, which frankly seemed to speak volumes about her Вimmense cool-headedness and self-Вcontrol: a lesser woman would have taken one look at the company she now appeared to be keeping, dropped her Brit like a hot brick and scrambled over the nearest wall, back to the relative sanity of the Welsh Marches. Whisked backstage after the presentation to be interviewed Вbefore ITV's cameras, she stood sandwiched between Halliwell and Courtney Love, while Fearne Cotton bellowed at her. There was Geri Halliwell Вdemanding 'Where are they now?' of Kula Shaker a woman whose last solo single reached No 41 five years ago mocking someone else's faded commercial fortunes.ДЄnd there was Ellie Goulding from Herefordshire, winner of this year's Brits Вcritics' choice award. There was courageous Samantha Fox proclaiming that she was 'going to get itВ right tonight', then announcing the award for the 'most Вrememorable Вperformance of the last 30В years'.

I t may not have been a vintage year for music, but if nothing else, the 2010 BritsВ offered a bumper harvest of pathos.

Ellie goulding lights metrognome