“Recording this was like a catharsis, it made me feel so much better – like the prize was me all along,” the singer shared on her first solo release in two years
Ellie Goulding is putting her trust in forces beyond her control. The singer makes her return after two years with the new single “Destiny,” an ode to free-falling surrender that finds her landing on her feet.
“Recording this was like a catharsis, it made me feel so much better – like the prize was me all along,” Goulding shared in a statement. “Instead of putting my everything into these men, this song was my first feeling of straight-up escape and empowerment.”
The record arrives with an intimate video directed by Floria Sigismondi. Goulding stars in the visual that captures fleeting moments of tension and bliss alongside quiet chaos. “Who cares what I’ve lost/I know the cure and the cause/I got cut from your sharp but I’m still unmarked,” she sings, “And who cares what you’ve done with a body like God/I got cut by your sharp but I’m still unmarked.”
“When I heard the track I was in love with it,” Goulding said. “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.”
“Destiny” is the first solo release from Goulding since 2023, when she released Higher Than Heaven. “In the best possible way, this album wasn’t taken from personal experiences. And it was such a relief to not sit in the studio going through all the things that happened to me and affected me. Because I feel things very deeply,” she told Rolling Stone about the record. “I got to just explore other things about myself… Right now, I just want to dance. I just want to sing, I just want to smile.”
