‘I DID ANY WAITRESS JOB I COULD FIND. I WORKED AT AN OLD PEOPLE’S HOME. I HAD THREE JOBS WHILE IN COLLEGE’
Ellie was estranged from her dad, although they reconciled before her wedding and he walked her down the aisle.
‘I suppose part of being in relationships consistently [in her 20s] was because I just always was like, “I need someone, I need someone!” And you feel as though you can’t exist without someone, which is just madness. I put that down to my dad not necessarily being around, and needing that comfort,’ she says with brutal honesty.
Ellie’s formative years were spent not knowing when the electricity would cut out and taking caravan holidays. She was a straight-A student (her favourite authors are Sebastian Faulks and Haruki Murakami) but she never felt part of the ‘cool gang’ and was bullied. She failed her music A-level: ‘I didn’t show up [to the exam] because a girl was bullying me. It was not something that I could emotionally handle because I think the only way to deal with someone like that was to be even meaner than they were. And that was just not in my make-up. So instead I simply stopped going to college.’
She refers to her teenage years as ‘chaotic’. She shared a bedroom with her two sisters – ‘it was quite challenging’ – and then left home at 16 to move in with a boyfriend.
‘I was doing every waitress job I could find. Then I was working at an old people’s home. I had three jobs while in college.’
She also started writing songs and playing guitar and found that she was able ‘to write down my emotions. I was very angsty. People used to call me a goth because I dyed my hair black and I had my lip pierced. It was a teenage thing where you’re suddenly finding out about yourself.’
She changed the way she wrote – from left-handed to right-handed – and the way she spoke, dropping her natural accent in favour of the people she saw on TV. ‘I listened to newsreaders and period dramas and I was like, “Why don’t I talk like that?” But I must say I do regret that now. I don’t know why I did that.’
To me, it sounds like a young woman aspiring to better things, driven to reinvent herself without much guidance other than her own instincts, and it’s simultaneously impressive and rather heart-rending to think that, as an adolescent, she never felt good enough as herself. Later, she went to university to study drama – the first in her family to go on to higher education. It was there that she was spotted performing by a music manager who signed her at the age of 19 and got her a record deal. After that, Elena became Ellie and a modernday pop star was born.
Before meeting her, I hadn’t fully appreciated the rapidity of her ascent or the level of dedication and work it must have taken to get to where she is.
She has spoken in the past about her struggles with anxiety and body image and the fact that she found solace in regular exercise and eating healthily.
She runs, boxes and does yoga. In the past, she has been a vegan but these days she’s more interested in bio-hacking (the practice of using technology and diet to boost physical and cognitive performance) and has reintroduced some dairy. Caspar, by contrast, was raised in a farming family, and is an unapologetic meat-eater.
I wonder how much of Ellie’s exercise and dietary regime stems from a desire to impose some sort of order on her life. Having experienced the chaos of not being in control as a youngster, then pitched into a world of endless touring and performing at the behest of management teams, is it important to her to control what she can?
‘Yeah! My god! I mean, isn’t it for everyone? I have to have such a huge amount of control in my normal life because my songwriting and my performing are so the opposite… When
I’m in the studio I have to let myself go and completely lose control to get to a place where I can write honestly and truthfully and access something that I don’t when I’m just in the zone of training or… I don’t know, making some kind of mad smoothie or something.
‘I have to constantly go from “crazy person writing songs and performing on stage” to having to keep this control. I find training to be such a core, integral part of my life – keeping fit and healthy and strong, both mentally and physically.’
Exercise, for her, ‘is not just about being physically strong. I mean, it literally lifts your mood, you know? It releases endorphins.
You never regret a workout.’
Love, in the end, was also beyond Ellie’s control. She never planned to meet Caspar but, when she did, ‘part of the urge I had that I was going to marry this person was because, for the first time ever, I felt like there was someone that was supporting my happiness rather than being my happiness.’
I’m intrigued to hear what future songs she will write from this place of contentment and stability. For now, there are 20,000 bits of merchandise to sign. Although she did once teach herself to write with her right hand as opposed to her left, ‘sadly, I can’t write with both at the same time otherwise I’d sign these a lot quicker, wouldn’t I?’
Give her a few years. I’m pretty sure that
Ellie Goulding could achieve anything she sets her mind to.
Ellie Goulding’s new album Brightest Blue is out now. For details about Irish dates on her 2021 tour, keep an eye on livenation.co.uk
One of the many things thrown into chaos since the arrival of Covid-19 into Ireland is shopping. From the lengthy, panicked queues back in March, to the tentative forays back into stores in the last few weeks, the entire sector has been turned on its head.
Among the initiatives to save as many companies as possible is the growing prevalence of the #ShopLocal hashtag on social media.
What began as an encouragement to people to look at local businesses for their needs, has grown into a popular movement. One of the businesses to benefit from it is BabyBoo, the Irish online baby retailer.
Founders Vicki O’Callaghan and Michelle O’Riordan say they’ve seen sales volumes akin to Black Friday for every day of the pandemic. The closure of retail outlets combined with desire to gift clothing in order to mark a baby’s safe arrival into the world has resulted in the massive surge in online sales. It’s not a bad complaint to have and they plan to not only continue to grow the business but to help those around them grow too.
‘I really hope it sits front of mind for people when choosing where to shop,’ says Vicki. ‘I definitely think personally I have changed my perspective on how I shop and where I shop now. I’d always have been a huge supporter of our local bricks and mortar and Irish online businesses, but I’d also have shopped a lot on Amazon. Now I try to find things locally or with an Irish online business if possible.
‘I’d love to see the larger retail outlets and department stores stocking more Irish brands too, to help people to make the decision to buy Irish even easier. Fast fashion has become such a huge topic even in the last few weeks, hopefully all the media coverage will educate people more about the importance of buying with brands who value sustainability in their manufacturing and operations as well as in their product design.’
Michelle agrees: ‘I hope it does continue, we already have a very large customer base in Ireland, so I think shopping local has become more important for a lot of people in recent times, even prior to Covid. If you want businesses to stay in your locality and create jobs then you need to
helped shape the business in designing products. It’s important for me to have ethically sourced, quality clothing that’s both functional, stylish and will last.’
There are currently so many people wondering what is next for them as they consider their future in terms of employment and work/life balance post Covid-19. New business ideas are probably to the forefront of their minds, with personal income being so uncertain at the moment. Vicki and Michelle have some advice after their own foray.
‘I always say research your market – just because you think there’s a gap for product or service doesn’t mean there is one,’ says Vicki. ‘Maybe the product or service doesn’t exist for another reason, or maybe it has been tried before and not worked.
‘Know your customer, who is your target audience and how will you reach them. Lastly, be prepared to work crazy hours for no pay – it doesn’t just happen overnight, it takes a huge amount of commitment and focus to grow a brand from nothing.’
Michelle’s guidance is similar: ‘My advice to anyone thinking of starting their own business is to research, plan and set goals. Some of your plans might change along they way, but it’s important to have some roadmap of where you see your idea going. Oh and be prepared to work like crazy!’
Despite the encouragEment to #ShopLocal during lockdown, many retailers still experienced a drop in sales in recent months but BabyBoo is thriving. Vicki believes this is down to their ability to change the focus of their business quickly.
‘I think we were positioned really well, we were able to adapt quickly due to our size and number of employees,’ she says. ‘While we were – and still are – worried about the effect of the pandemic on sales, the business has thrived. The quality of the products and word of mouth play a huge part in that and the gift market has seen huge growth online. Our gift boxes flew out the door for the last few months – when people couldn’t visit new babies or see grandchildren for birthdays, the convenience of ordering online and having it shipped to the baby or child meant that smaller online businesses grew significantly. For us, we firmly believe the brand is associated with quality and that carries a lot of weight with our customers who come back time and time again.’
One area in which BabyBoo really stands out is on social media, where the stories feel like a look at their personal lives as well as the business. This enables customers to feel like they can trust them more.
‘This is where my digital experience came into play I think,’ says Vicki. ‘Right from the start we wanted to build a community around the brand. We want our customers to feel involved and part of our success – we even have a “BabyBoo addicts” private Facebook group which is very popular and lots of fun.
‘We want people to know us just as much as
off and not checking email out of hours in the last few months though. Covid has taught everyone a lesson in work/life balance I think!’
Michelle agrees: ‘Yes they are all very supportive and, yes, mum guilt is a factor, but we agreed as a business to prioritise family and this is one of our core values. Occasionally my husband and children will help if we have an event or large order to fulfil, I’ll bring some stock home and we’ll get it ready between us.
‘We just hired my son for the summer so he gets the added benefit of working with his mum and godmother – an added perk for any teenager!’
Many lessons have been learned along the way for the duo and there are things they’d change if they were doing it again – one of which could be applied to any sector of life: ‘Trust myself more,’ says Michelle.
‘It’s easy to doubt yourself along the way. I stand back and look at what we’ve achieved and most of it is because we’ve gone with what felt right.’
‘COVID HAS
TAUGHT EVERYONE A LESSON IN WORK/LIFE BALANCE’
Clothing, gifts and even hospital bag essentials are available at babyboo.ie
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WITH JOANNE TOOLAN’S RELAXED DRESS CODE