It’s only January, but 2026 is rapidly turning into a special year for Ellie Goulding.
Having already been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to biodiversity and the climate, Goulding will welcome a second child – her first with boyfriend Beau Minniear – in May.
There’s also the small matter of her sixth studio album, currently untitled and without an official release date – but fully mastered and underpinned with a very prominent theme.
Speaking to the latest issue of NYLON, Goulding confirmed the new long player is heavily influenced by her short-lived marriage to art dealer Caspar Jopling, the father of her eldest child – son Arthur, four.
‘It had always been the goal to start this album,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know it was going to be a divorce album, but that’s the way it started heading.’
Goulding exchanged vows with Jopling, the Harvard educated grandson of Conservative MP Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling, at Grade I listed York Minster in 2019.
Pregnant Ellie Goulding has posed in her underwear for a new cover-shoot with the latest issue of NYLON magazine
Goulding has confirmed her new album is heavily influenced by her short-lived marriage to art dealer Caspar Jopling, the father of her eldest child – son Arthur, four
Motherhood appears to be front and centre in her new cover shoot for NYLON, a collaboration with New York based photographer César Buitrago
The singer gave birth to their only child together in 2021, three years before she and Joling confirmed the marriage was over – a difficult chapter that ultimately provided the creative spark she needed while writing her new music.
‘When I married my ex-husband, I thought it was for life. That will never go away,’ she said. ‘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.’
The collapse of her marriage had already turned into a creative issue before she entered the studio, with Goulding forced to tell her producer about the separation on the very day she was introduced to him.
She recalled: ‘I knew that my marriage wasn’t working out, it was dark times… 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.”‘
But despite the unvarnished nature of her lyrics and their clear personal resonance, Goulding says Jopling remains fully supportive of the project – at least for the time being.
‘My label, my friends – everyone’s behind it,’ she said. ‘And even my ex-husband loves the songs… well, he hasn’t heard all the songs.’
With the album expected to go on general release before she gives birth, Goulding insists she’s more than capable of managing her career while coping with the inevitable demands that come with a new baby.
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The singer shows off her prominent baby bump in a black bra and open leather jacket in one image from the new cover shoot
With her new album expected to go on general release before she gives birth, Goulding insists she’s capable of managing her career while coping with the demands that come with a baby
‘It’s a beautiful thing to be able to grow a child, and I feel very lucky that I’m healthy – but it’s not all I am right now,’ she said
Goulding will welcome her second child in May, but despite her pregnancy she insists she’s ‘still working every day and still writing every day’
The full interview is available to read in the latest issue of NYLON, out now
‘I didn’t want to become just a pregnant woman first,’ she said.
‘Not every woman has this luxury. I have amazing people around me. I have an amazing boyfriend. I do have it a little easier in that I do have amazing support. I’m still working every day and still writing every day.
‘It’s just that I am growing a human inside me. I’m perhaps not the most, like, Mother Earth about it, if you know what I mean?
‘It’s a beautiful thing to be able to grow a child, and I feel very lucky that I’m healthy – but it’s not all I am right now.’
Regardless, Motherhood appears to be front and centre in her new cover shoot, a collaboration with New York based photographer César Buitrago.
In one particularly striking image, the singer covers her baby bump in a T-shirt emblazoned with the single world ‘Mother’ while modelling a pair of skimpy black underwear.
A second finds her exposing her torso in a black bralette and cropped leather jacket, while a third captures Goulding in a tiered cream blouse, her baby bump visible as she gazes out at the reader.
The singer says her ex-husband remains fully supportive of her new ‘divorce’ album – but admits he’s yet to hear every song
‘My label, my friends – everyone’s behind it,’ she said. ‘And even my ex-husband loves the songs… well, he hasn’t heard all the songs’
Goulding with current boyfriend Beau Minniear. The couple will welcome their first child together, Goulding’s second, later this year
But if she’s playing a role, it’s not an intentional one, with Goulding adamant that her new music represents a significant departure from the artist she once was.
‘I am grateful that my label is very cooperative with me no longer wishing to play that character anymore,’ she said. ‘People don’t want fake. They don’t want characters. They don’t want somebody inauthentic.’
She added: ‘[The new music] was taking it back to basics for me, going back to instruments – which is so rudimental, but AI music is on the rise… I took it back to the guitar, which is where I first started.
‘It aroused something in me that was innocent and pure from when I was 15, writing my first song.’
The full interview is available to read in the latest issue of NYLON, out now.
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