Ellie Goulding On Misogyny In The Industry, How She Copes
Ellie Goulding got candid about mental health and misogyny over the weekend in a new interview. The English singer, whose new album, Higher Than Heaven, dropped Friday (April 7), told The Independent that she’s been struggling with anxiety for years.
Goulding, 36, still fears something bad is coming after 13 years of international chart success. “It’s debilitating,” she tells the publication. “I staved it off for years because I just exercised so much. I didn’t even notice because I was running so much – like, non-stop. So when I stopped, I was like, ‘Oh.’” Reluctant to take medication, the “Love Me Like You Do” singer opted instead for holistic solutions like calming lavender capsules.
Obsessed with her health, Goulding says she regularly tests her blood to see what her body needs. Following her 2021 pregnancy, the singer’s hardcore workout routine slowed down. For Goulding, this was the only time she felt her anxiety disappear. “So I’m just going to keep trying stuff. Since the pandemic, I don’t know a single person, actually, who doesn’t have anxiety.”
Evolving Through The Years
Of her new album, the musician says, “I think it was a reaction to the f—ing lockdown. I didn’t want to write any ballads.” She began work on it before the world started opening back up while she was also pregnant with her son, Arthur. “Everything was hyper-real and strange. We wanted to feel some kind of joy when we were writing – I didn’t want to be delving into my deepest fears.”
The singer-songwriter’s coverage of her love life has long frustrated her. As a female artist, Ellie says she gets “defined by my male partners.” Even people who she’s only been on dates with, or worse, a fling. “You couldn’t possibly have a fling. No, that’s not allowed,” she continues. “You’ve got to have solid relationships and be married.”
Following the #MeToo movement, Goulding thinks “there has been a palpable change” in the male-dominated music industry. When she got her big break in 2013, Goulding always felt uneasy around men. Even if they were being friendly, her guard was always up. She likened it to being a woman walking down a street at night and seeing a man walking the other way. Now, “younger artists have to be chaperoned, female artists,” she said, “and therapy for artists – which obviously didn’t exist when I started out.”
Now, she knows better than to “give in” to the gossip in the “fake world of social media and tabloids.” Instead of responding on social media about whether a story is true or not, Goulding would rather “stay in the real world.” Except for the occasional every “five years or so” to “put something out there.”
Higher Than Heaven is Goulding’s fifth studio album. It is her first album in three years since Brightest Blue. The new album features 16 songs and is her “least personal album” with a synth-pop/dance feel to it.
