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IT'S PERSONAL
Ellie Goulding teases top secret new project as she gives huge update on her ‘very personal’ new record
Ellie is only the second artist to sell out the Top of the Mountain opening gig
Almost two years after her last album Higher Than Heaven topped the charts, Ellie Goulding is preparing to make a comeback in 2025.
And her brand-new record, she tells me, is one of her most personal to date.
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Before going on stage for her sold-out Top of the Mountain opening concert in Ischgl, Austria, the Brit superstar and mum of one says: “Higher Than Heaven was actually intentionally impersonal.
“It was post-baby, post-pandemic. I just wanted to write some solid pop songs that you can dance to.
“This time, it’s a little different.”
Ellie confirmed in February this year that her marriage to art dealer Caspar Jopling had broken down. But the pair have remained close and are devoted parents to their son, Arthur, three.
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After jetting to Los Angeles in September to work with Canadian producer Jack Rochon, who counts Beyoncé among his writing partners, it seems the lyrics for her new record flowed with relative ease.
“I’ve been writing about what’s been going on in my life,” Ellie explains.
“But also just observations, friends, my connection with nature — the usual things that I tend to gravitate towards writing about, maybe slightly more elevated or evolved from the last album.
“I’ve had more time to get in the studio and spend the time and sit.
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‘I’m calmer – sun and snow are a good combo’
“Songs don’t come that easily to me, especially when they’re from more of a personal place.
“Sometimes the best songs come from just sitting around, drinking tea, talking. It’s been time-consuming, but it’s time that I’ve needed to take.”
Ellie Goulding looks happy and relaxed as she cuddles up to new man on the beach
Ellie also teases a top-secret new project, adding: “I’ve made a classical album that’s not out yet. I have a huge passion for classical music.”
The singer is in good spirits, despite the freezing conditions in Austria, with temperatures dropping to minus three degrees during our stay.
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All 14,000 beds at the ski resort had been booked up ahead of her show, which marked the start of the winter season, and crowds were starting to assemble as we met at the five-star Trofana Royal hotel.
Lifting her top to flash her thermals, Ellie reveals: “I’m naturally quite a cold person. I get very cold so I carry thermals with me a lot more than you’d think.
“I do a lot of cryotherapy in the UK, but we don’t get anywhere near as cold as this.
“I feel really great being here. I’m already calmer and at peace. Snow and sun is a good combination.
“There’s something really freeing about watching skiers just there, having the time of their lives, and I’m here just relaxing.”
Ellie — who shunned a private jet and flew to Austria with budget airline easyJet — is only the second artist to sell out the Top of the Mountain opening gig.
Rihanna did it in 2007 — making her the first in the 30-year history of the concert series. And Ellie breaks into a grin as she is given the news of her similar success.
When asked if she is a decent skier, she says with a smile: “I’m not very good, which is unusual because I consider myself an athletic person. My life has been pretty wild the past few years.
"I’ve definitely been here before at some point, but I’m still not very good at skiing. I just haven’t done it enough.
“It’s one of those things you have to keep doing. It’s the same with surfing. I really love sports. I like to try different things, but it’s a commitment, isn’t it.
“Skiing, I’ve never quite managed to get the hang of. But I do love it. I brought my son last year and he did a little bit.”
Despite life being wild, as Ellie puts it, her career is still stellar.
She played a sold-out, one-off special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April.
And in the summer, she released Free, one of a number of collaborations she has done with super-producer Calvin Harris.
Ellie reveals: “I love working with Calvin. We have a special kind of relationship when it comes to making music.
“We just understand each other and it’s easy. I don’t take that for granted because being in the studio with people for the first time is like having a first date, basically.
“You never know how it’s going to go. It’s nice to have a lifelong collaborator.”
‘It ended up being my biggest song’
While Ellie’s sixth album is still in the works, she says she is already in demand for songs, telling me: “I’ve written a song for a new album that somebody wants to have in a film that I never would have imagined.
“It’s a complete opposite, but maybe it’s going to work and that’s what I go with.”
It’s not surprising they are so keen to have Ellie on board.
After all, her 2015 single Love Me Like You Do became one of her biggest hits when it was used in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.
“I recorded that just because I desperately wanted to meet [Swedish producer] Max Martin,” Ellie says with a laugh. “I’d never met Max before and I thought it would at least give me the chance.
“I got in the room and he was like, ‘Are we going to record it then?’
“I spent eight hours recording vocals for that song and then thought it would be in just a little part of a film.
“I thought that would be it. That didn’t happen. It ended up being my biggest song. You just never really know.”
Following the concert on Saturday night, Ellie flew straight back to London yesterday — which meant, sadly, there was little time for her to hit the slopes.
“If I didn’t have to get back for my son’s Christmas play, I’d stay an extra day and do it,” says Ellie.
“But skiing and singing don’t mix that well, so I’ll focus on singing.”
Given the number of times I face-planted the piste during my 48-hour visit, I think that was a wise choice.
Caught live
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It might have been -5C when Ellie took to the Austrian stage but she turned up the heat from the moment she started to perform.
She danced like crazy to keep herself warm as she tore through hits including Higher Than Heaven, Anything Could Happen and Outside – her Calvin Harris collaboration which saw the 17,000-strong crowd going absolutely wild.
Hats and gloves went flying as fans young and old jumped up and down in unison to the thumping beat, with pints being thrown into the icy air.
“Are you keeping warm?” Ellie asked the crowd before admitting she was still freezing despite her high-energy performance.
She was on top form despite the chill and joked with the crowd about being ghosted before singing her 2020 track How Deep.
“The next song is about something really relatable,” Ellie said. “This song is about when someone gets scared when someone goes too deep and then they back off.
“Who has been ghosted? What the f**k? Oh sorry, the kids! What the duck, which is what I say around my child. What the ducking duck?
“So this song is more relevant than ever.”
Her brilliant encore of Love Me Like You Do and Burn had fans screaming themselves hoarse.
Ellie is only the second act to sell out this concert series, and after watching this flawless performance it’s not hard to see why it was the hottest ticket in this tiny town.
★★★★☆
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Jonathan Bailey is a real heart-throb as Fiyero in blockbuster movie Wicked, and that’s thanks to the man who also got Harry Styles in shape.
I’ve learned that the British actor hired Harry’s trainer to get him looking buff ahead of shooting for the musical.
He worked with top PT Rik Melling for months to sculpt his body – especially plenty of arm exercises to get his biceps bulging.
It has certainly paid off because Jonathan has been making fans swoon.
I’m sure the offers will keep rolling in for him now that he’s hit the big time in Wicked.
Meghan: My lip flip disaster
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Meghan Trainor had a 2015 hit with Lips Are Movin but hers can’t do that any more after cosmetic work left her unable to smile.
Speaking on the latest episode of her Workin’ On It podcast, she confessed that she’d had “too much Botox” and that it was playing havoc with her features and leaving her in pain.
She said: “I got too much Botox and I need help.
“I messed up. I’ve had Botox, like, a handful of times . . . just my forehead.
“Someone convinced me with my little lips that if you did a lip flip – you put filler right above your upper lip – that you could have a beautiful flip on your upper lip and I could have one for the first time. It wasn’t true.”
Meghan added: “I cannot smile any more. It hurts to smile. I don’t look happy. I look like I smelled someone’s fart . . . somebody help me!”
Let that be a lesson to the rest of the showbiz world.
Band Aid to top of Xmas tree
BAND AID’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? is storming ahead in the race for No1 after the release of the 2024 Ultimate Mix to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song.
Bob Gelfof’s charity track is 1,000 chart units ahead of Gracie Abrams’ That’s So True – which, if she overtakes Band Aid, would see her celebrating a fifth week at the top. As it stands, Rose and Bruno Mars are at No3 with APT.
Three more festive favourites are in the Top Ten this week too, with Wham!’s Last Christmas at No5 in the Official Charts’ First Look.
All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey is at No7 and Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree has shot up eleven places to No9.
Kraftwerk, Billy Idol, Johnny Marr and The The are among the acts who will headline a brand new festival celebrating the worlds of new wave, post-punk and alternative rock.
The one-day event, Forever Now, will take place at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes on June 22, with Happy Mondays, Death Cult and The Psychedelic Furs also on the bill.
Joe cuts a dash With His ‘tache
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Movember ended yesterday but I hope Joe Jonas keeps his new facial hair.
The US singer looked more handsome than ever with this ’tache as he went for drinks at Chiltern Firehouse in London at the weekend.
Joe, who was previously married to Brit actress Sophie Turner, is now believed to be single.
But I’m sure that’s not for a lack of offers.
The week in Bizness
Tonight: Sam Fender kicks off his ten-date arena tour in Dublin in support of his next album People Watching. In the coming weeks he will also be performing in Leeds, Manchester, London, Birmingham and Glasgow.
Wednesday: An all-star cast is due on the red carpet at the premiere of horror movie Nosferatu in London’s Leicester Square, including Emma Corrin, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp.
Saturday: Coldplay headline the first day of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball at London’s O2 Arena, alongside Teddy Swims and Ella Henderson. Katy Perry will headline the second day, on Sunday.
Sunday: Taylor Swift brings her record-breaking Eras tour to an end after 20 months, playing the final show in Vancouver, Canada.
Lana UK gigs a record-breaker
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Lana Del Rey has become the UK’s highest-selling solo artist of 2025 after her stadium tour sold out in hours on Friday.
The US star will perform massive shows in Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool and Dublin next June, followed by two nights at London’s Wembley Stadium, which equates to more than 300,000 tickets.
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Last week she also announced a new album called The Right Person Will Stay.
It will be out on May 21, so fans will have a whole month to learn it before she hits the stage.
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