Ellie Goulding has returned with the sensual new song Destiny.
The 38-year-old pop star is back with her first new solo release since her chart-topping 2023 album Higher Than Heaven.
The Miracle hitmaker admitted she felt empowered after putting all of herself into the song, rather than into “these men,” adding that the choir and strings represent a “triumphant moment of freedom, like jumping off a cliff”.
Ellie said: “Recording this was like a catharsis, it made me feel so much better – like the prize was me all along. Instead of putting my everything into these men, this song was my first feeling of straight-up escape and empowerment. When I heard the track, I was in love with it. The idea of adding the choir and strings at the end was for it to become a triumphant moment of freedom, like jumping off a cliff. To me it sounds like surrender. It sounds like let it happen. That’s why it is called Destiny, it sounds like what will be will be and accepting it.”
A music video for the hair-raising, ethereal tune, helmed by Floria Sigismondi, will land at 3pm GMT Friday (14.11.25).
A new album is expected next year.
Ellie previously teased that her new record will be one of her most personal to date.
The Lights singer – who has son Arthur, four, with her ex-husband Caspar Jopling – told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column in 2024: “‘Higher Than Heaven’ was actually intentionally impersonal.
“It was post-baby, post-pandemic. I just wanted to write some solid pop songs that you can dance to. This time, it’s a little different.”
Ellie admits that writing personal songs is a “time-consuming” process. But the pop star suggested that her upcoming record will be “slightly more elevated or evolved from the last album”.
Ellie – who announced her split from art dealer Caspar in February 2024 – said: “I’ve been writing about what’s been going on in my life.
“But also just observations, friends, my connection with nature – the usual things that I tend to gravitate towards writing about, maybe slightly more elevated or evolved from the last album.
“I’ve had more time to get in the studio and spend the time and sit.
“Songs don’t come that easily to me, especially when they’re from more of a personal place.
“Sometimes the best songs come from just sitting around, drinking tea, talking. It’s been time-consuming, but it’s time that I’ve needed to take.”
Ellie’s new solo tune comes after she released Free, her latest collaboration with superstar DJ Calvin Harris, last year.