NEED TO KNOW
Fans will learn a lot about Ellie Goulding’s life from her new album.
In a new Nylon cover story interview, the “Lights” singer, 39, teased her upcoming sixth studio album and spoke about how she got divorced from ex-husband Caspar Jopling in 2024 and began dating boyfriend Beau Minniear throughout the creative process for the project.
“I didn’t know it was going to be a divorce album, but that’s the way it started heading,” said Goulding, who shares son Arthur, 4, with Jopling. She announced their split in February 2024.
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Goulding told the outlet she drew inspiration from poems and books, “writing little things down that resonated with me” along the way. The experience of motherhood also influenced the process. “So that, plus the fact that I knew that my marriage wasn’t working out, it was dark times,” she said.
Personal events in the “Burn” artist’s life played out in real time while she made the forthcoming music — partly with producer Jack Rochon. “The day I met Jack was the day I was like, ‘Jack, I should be candid with you. Today, my husband and I decided we’re going to separate,'” recalled Goulding.
“It’s so funny that the process over the years is so indicative of how I was feeling at the time. The songs have gone from so dark and angry, to cynical, to funny, to coming out the other side, to meeting a new guy and being excited,” added the star, who’s currently expecting a child with Minniear.
The album will explore both Goulding’s past and present. “When I married my ex-husband, I thought it was for life. That will never go away and that will always stay with me,” she said.
Goulding added, “There are some songs that are necessary for me to acknowledge that time in my life and to be respectful of it. Then there were some songs that were extremely reactionary and sad that I felt were good to do in the moment but don’t serve me long-term.”
After releasing 2023’s Higher Than Heaven, a dance-pop album she previously described to PEOPLE as “more of a pop venture than a personal venture of deeper feelings and poetry,” she told Nylon there’s “a complete lack of expectation” around her new music, “which is so liberating.”
“And it feels new. It feels different, this feeling of finally going to a place and releasing something and I don’t feel any pressure. My label, my friends — everyone’s behind it,” said Goulding. “And even my ex-husband loves the songs.”
She then clarified, “Well, he hasn’t heard all the songs.”
The upcoming album’s first single, “Destiny,” is out now.
