She smiles! And she writes her own songs! Photo Credit: Gus Stewart/Redferns

British pop songstress Elie Goulding may already be a global name, with last fall’s debut single “Under the Sheets” ricocheting over the airwaves. But it may surprise some of you that she has yet to drop a full-length record. She hasn’t even gotten her hands dirty in this industry yet!

That’s about to change. On March 1st, debut album Lights will see the light of day. (Har har.) What to expect? Drum-machine heavy electro pop that stutters and bleats below her airy soprano. She calls it “folktronica,” though the latest single is veering away from Bjork and toward Gaga. The video dropped today — showing the world not only a great, get-in-your-head pop track but also a nice change of tune for the pop world.

“Starry Eyes” shows the singer in what is to soon be her habitat: palatial rooms that speak of cozy, inherited wealth. With some pixie-ish folk-ie backup dancers (they’re wearing feathery costumes), the singer doesn’t do much dancing on her own. Instead, she’s content to just wave her hands around — letting the camera linger on every twentieth-or-so frame, creating a neat visual effect akin to the stuttering re-mix quality of classic hip-hop.

What’s different about this video? When’s the last time you remember seeing a serious pop singer SMILE? As if their music is too serious to allow for fun, pop stars have ruled out the smile as a serious faux-pas and turned instead to angsty brooding. Let’s hope Goulding changes that.