Ellie Goulding felt like a robot in the studio after the birth of her first child
3. Ellie Goulding told Jools Holland that music and performance are what keep her motivated as a mother
- Ellie Goulding is promoting her new album I Know Too Much
- She welcomed daughter Iris with her boyfriend Beau Minniear
- Goulding says she barely remembers making her 2023 album Higher Than Heaven
Ellie Goulding has spoken candidly about how becoming a mother for the second time has transformed her relationship with music — and why her latest creative chapter feels far more grounded than the last.
A second child and a sharper creative focus
The Love Me Like You Do hitmaker is currently promoting her new album, I Know Too Much. She has credited the arrival of her daughter Iris, whom she welcomed with her boyfriend Beau Minniear, with giving fresh momentum to the process. Goulding now has two children.
Speaking on the most recent episode of Later... With Jools Holland, which aired on Sunday, she reflected on what drives her creative life.
"Music and performing is the thing that keeps me going. I have two children now so the first time I went back in the studio, I was kind of a robot."
The postnatal haze behind Higher Than Heaven
Goulding went on to describe the disorienting fog that surrounded the making of her previous record.
"I made this 2023 album called Higher Than Heaven and I don't remember it."
She spoke openly about the postnatal experience that many mothers will recognise, and explained how it ultimately fed into her songwriting.
"Any woman that's had a baby can relate to that postnatal phase of, 'What the hell just happened to me?'. So I wrote all this music."
The singer even drew a wry comparison between her state of mind at the time and the rise of artificial intelligence, after a listener mistook one of her tracks for an AI-generated recording.
"Someone heard a song from it the other day and was like, 'I thought this was AI, that's the new thing'. And I was like, kind of, because I was like a robot and didn't know what I was doing for a time."
More equipped this time around
With experience now on her side, Goulding says she feels altogether better prepared for this new chapter.
"Now I'm much more human and I have done it already, so this time around I'm a lot more equipped to get back into that mindset."