Ellie Goulding did not know her new record was going to be a ‘divorce album’
By Lauren Del Fabbro, Press Association Entertainment Reporter
Singer Ellie Goulding has said she did not know her new record was going to be a “divorce album”.
The 39-year-old musician, known for hits including River and Burn, married her ex-husband, art dealer Caspar Jopling, in August 2019 and gave birth to their son Arthur in 2021.
After being married for nearly five years, Goulding announced the pair had split up and has opened up about how the divorce has inspired some of the music in her forthcoming album.
She told Nylon magazine: “I didn’t know it was going to be a divorce album, but that’s the way it started heading.
“When I married my ex-husband, I thought it was for life. That will never go away and that will always stay with me.
“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.
“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. And even my ex-husband loves the songs.”
Speaking about the writing process for the album, she added: “I would write things down, lines from poems or books. I was reading things to make me laugh, like Nora Ephron and Deborah Levy. I read Lisa Taddeo.
“I was just writing little things down that resonated with me. I had a baby and, again, talking about women just being expected to be equipped to deal with this shit all the time — I was not equipped to deal with the aftermath of suddenly being a mom and having to carry on like nothing’s happened.
“You brought a life into this world, and it’s changed your brain makeup and changed your body, and you just got to go on as if it’s nothing.
“So that, plus the fact that I knew that my marriage wasn’t working out, it was dark times.”
Despite this, the songwriter does not think that divorce has to have a “negative connotation” any more.
She said: “We’re lucky to be in a position where we don’t have to be married and we don’t have to necessarily rely on somebody.”
Goulding revealed late last year that she is pregnant with her second baby which she shares with her boyfriend actor Beau Minniear.
She added: “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.”
The Brit award-winner has had four chart-topping albums in the UK, including her most recent offering, Higher Than Heaven, which was released in 2023.
The star released her latest single Destiny in November 2025, and is yet to announce details of her upcoming album.
