WHILE most shy away from pain, Ellie Goulding leans into hers for new album I Know Too Much.
And it makes the ten-track record, out today, one of her greatest pieces of work.
Her searingly honest lyrics shine a light on the last two years of her life, while the mix of pacy beats and stripped-back acoustic ballads elevate her ethereal voice.
Part heartbreak, part rebirth, I Know Too Much takes listeners on a journey through deceit and betrayal before ending in a place of euphoria with final song Ravers.
The end of her marriage to art dealer Caspar Gopling has most definitely inspired some of the tracks.
But you can also see how fans might link some lyrics to her apparent unhappiness with her old management team, with whom she is now locked in a nasty legal battle after they parted ways earlier this year.
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Two ultimate diss tracks, Always Thinking Of You and Misremember You, are sure-fire hits for the broken-hearted.
Lyrically, the latter is raw, with Ellie singing: “All my friends would die if they knew I still see you in a good light from time to time. But I won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
“I’ll leave out all the details that don’t add up to your glory.”
On Always Think Of You, Ellie chides: “Run your mouth, when I post a pretty picture you would make me take it down.
“The s**t you did then I would never put up with now.”
She continues: “Losing your s**t over something small, throwing a fit like you’re two feet tall, blame it on me, or the alcohol, what do you know now, Mr know it all?”
For Your Entertainment and Loser are my stand-out favourites, with the lyrics on Loser enough to make any of her former flames cringe.
“See you got a new job, new life, got a new girl that’s fine, you’re not fooling anybody,” Ellie sings.
“You can change all your clothes, baby you’re still a loser.
“Change your cologne, you still smell like a loser.”
I’ll be singing that on repeat any time someone gets on my wick.