EXCLUSIVE: Ellie Goulding on new music with Silk City & life in lockdown

Jordan Lee caught up with Ellie Goulding to chat about her brand new single ‘New Love’ which she worked on with Silk City, the side-project of dance producers Diplo and Mark Ronson as well as life in lockdown.

‘New Love’, which was released last week, has elements of house and dance music and is the first release from the DJ duo since 2018.

Ellie told Jordan about how the track came about. She said, “It was perfect timing when Mark reached out to me. He said, ‘Oh, I just heard this song, can we do something with it?’ And I was like, yeah, sure! I didn't think anything will come of it because I often get texts from producers and start ideas, that's just kind of the nature of the music industry. And then he came back within a week with this track, and, and it was brilliant!”

She added, “It felt like freedom. I just sounded like the kind of song you could lose yourself to. When I wrote the song, I was thinking about a time where I broke up with someone and I felt like I had truly become myself. And then suddenly you feel like you can just dance by yourself and you don't need anyone around. You don't need validation from anyone and you can really come out of your shell and have that kind of ultimate freedom. So yeah, it worked out pretty good.”

The singer songwriter described how different the process of releasing a record during lockdown had been. Ellie’s fourth studio album ‘Brightest Blue’ was released in July 2020 and she explained how not being able to perform the songs properly has been tough as an artist.

She said, “I'm so used to releasing music, and then going out on tour and breathing life into it, and it becoming a real thing. But with that in mind, I just thought, I'm just going to release more music, I've got nothing to lose. I have no idea when I'm going to be on tour again, I've got no idea when I'm going to be doing festivals. Obviously, this year, a lot of festivals have had to cancel, which is heartbreaking.”

In celebration of the release of ‘Brightest Blue’, Ellie performed at the Victoria & Albert Museum for a special live streamed gig. Named ‘The Brightest Blue Experience’, it was the only show Ellie performed last year.

“I was really happy to be able to go there and sort of you know, draw a bit of attention to it because it really is incredible, an incredible place. And it was the first time where I did a set where I felt like I could just sing the songs and not have to run around. The music could speak for itself. It was really fun and honestly that was the one show that I did and that's quite sad really.”

Ellie added that it was vital to support those who worked in the music industry whose jobs had been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly after the news that festivals couldn’t go ahead and the recent announcement that Glastonbury would also not be happening this year.

She said, “There is so much that goes into them. There's so many jobs, there's so much that goes into a festival that I didn't you know, I really feel for the organisers, especially Glastonbury.”

Ellie remained positive and urged people to look after themselves throughout these difficult times.

"It is one of those times where we need to forgive our selves to being lazy. We need to go easy on ourselves. I think we need to remember that.”

Check out some of our favourite collaborations of 2020...

Now read:

Ellie Goulding's biggest selling songs from 'Starry Eyed' to 'River'

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Ronson on the challenges of making 'New Love' with Diplo and Ellie Goulding

How to listen to Hits Radio:

Turn it up with Hits Radio! Home of Fleur East, Sam Thompson and Gemma Atkinson playing the biggest hits and the biggest throwbacks, alongside the biggest laughs and life-changing competitions. Tune in on FM, DAB, online or ask your Smart Speaker to 'Play Hits Radio'.

• Ellie Goulding
• jordan lee