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ART has been known to inspire many things, and for singer Ellie Goulding it has found its way into her music. Or the title of her new album cover at least. The pop hitmaker, 33, releases her fourth studio album, titled Brightest Blue, on July 17, and has just announced a UK tour for the spring of 2021.
Rewind the clock and it was during her time living in the US and a visit to an installation by American artist Doug Wheeler that Ellie found album inspiration.
She explains: “I moved there for a couple of years (New York) and the one thing I noticed, there was always a new exhibition or a new opening, a new showcase of a new artist and so I was just immersed in art for a few years.
“I went to an exhibition by Doug Wheeler and it was essentially walking into a blue, luminous room, where you can’t escape the blue. I immediately felt this feeling of warmth and happiness, and then I went to the studio and wrote the title song Brightest Blue”.
But the title, she reflects, also shares similarities with the monikers of previous records like 2012’s, Halcyon.
“Halcyon Days (the title of the re-issued 2012 album) are the days of happiness that come after a lot of turmoil,” she says.
“So I always have this theme of bittersweet or melancholic, where you overcome these days of sadness. So, Brightest Blue is just being able to find the light in sadness really.
“Blue was always a colour associated with being down but I thought Brightest Blue was a good way to accept that you’ll always have those kind of feelings, but learning how to illuminate them.”
Her previous album, Delirium, was released in 2015, and the gap of more than four years is the she has featured in Global Citizen’s charity concert One World: Together At Home, as well as the BBC’s Big Night In, which included a charity single cover of the Foo Fighters’ hit Times Like These.
She’s also long been a UN Environment Ambassador, and has passionately campaigned to help highlight the global climate crisis.
“One side of me just wanted to hide away and use this time entirely for myself just to grow in order to be able to give everyone a better version of myself at the end of it,” she says when asked about using her support for charitable campaigns during the lockdown period.
“But at the same time I understood I was still a person of comfort to some people and maybe someone that a few people looked up to, so I felt like it was better to use my voice than not.
“And I’d like to think that the things that I like to talk about on social media and things I like to shine a light on are causes for the greater good.
“So I made that decision that I was going to be present during this time, and to be honest it was also a comfort to me as well, to know we can all still be there for each other, virtually and kind of give each other that support, so I’m glad I did.
“And as it comes to an end, I’ve become so used to this virtual comfort in people that it’s going to be odd to go back to normal life... but I think we’re all faced with that.”
■ Brightest Blue, left, is out on Friday.