Shropshire Magazine

Ellie Goulding on stage.

Fame has come quickly for Ellie Goulding, the singer-songwriter who has garnered plaudits from both critics and music fans. However, she tells Andy Richardson and James Watkins, she’s not necessarily cut out for bright lights, big city . . .

If Ellie Goulding’s fairy Godmother appeared just for a moment, to grant her biggest wish, it would be this: To walk away from London and the maelstrom of pop stardom to enjoy a simple life on the Shropshire border.

Ellie is the UK’s biggest pop success story of the year, having won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll and the Critics Choice accolade at the 2010 BRIT Awards. Her debut album, Lights, was released in March and went straight to number one, while a spring tour of the UK was also an unprecedented success.

The singer-songwriter, however, yearns for a return to her former home in Kington or her one-time playground, The Shropshire Hills. As her diary fills with new commitments and more and more people seek her time, Ellie craves the life she left behind, when weekends would be spent in the Shropshire Hills, lounging with a boyfriend or relaxing at gigs.

“I spent some time seeing a guy in the Shropshire Hills, he lived just above Craven Arms,” she says. “I used to go and see him in his beautiful house. One of my best memories is of the car getting stuck, half way up the hill and we had to get out and walk. I only had tiny little pumps on, and shorts, and it was the middle of winter. We had to walk all the way up to the top, in the snow.

“I used to go to discos in Presteigne. I used to go to Bishop’s Castle quite a lot. I’d go to gigs there because there was a lot of good music.

Ellie at the BRIT Awards where she proved a great success.

“There was nothing else to do, so we’d get in with the boy racers. To us, they were a bunch of guys who were boy racers and they were fun, nothing more than that — you’d never have them as a boyfriend. They used to just drive us around and we’d go to gigs and parties. I loved living in the country so much, you had to keep finding stuff to do. We’d go to gigs or clubbing, but I didn’t really like clubbing so I’d go to gigs.”

It’s in marked contrast to the life she now leads. As a jetset pop star, she’s relocated to London and now leads a peripatetic life, travelling to her own concerts and TV appearances.

“London depresses me loads. I’m starting to come round to the city but the novelty has worn off. It’s lots of buildings and lots of people, lots of scary people. My friend nearly got attacked the other day.

“60 or 70 per cent of the people there are in a rat race. They are trying to achieve something. There are lots of people working in The City. I don’t have anything against ambition, but it stresses me out. Even little things like getting on the tube are a real mission. We’re not really meant to be in that sort of stressful environment. London just keeps getting more and more busy, or it seems like that, and there’s just this constant threat of danger.”

Though her family members moved in different directions, her memories of the Shropshire border are all fond.

“I couldn’t miss country life more. My mum lives in Birmingham now and I don’t see her very often and my dad lives in Hereford and I don’t see him either.

“My aunt and uncle — they’re not my real aunty and uncle but I call them that — they sort of took me in about four years ago. I go back and visit them every so often, but I don’t have time at the moment because I’m on tour. But I go back and clean the house for them and I love it, I love doing normal things.”

Grounded

Ellie has tried to stay grounded during her whirlwind rise, though she admits she’s found herself in a number of surreal situations, such as the BRITS.

“I felt like I wasn’t meant to be there, at the BRITS. I felt a little bit out of place, and rightly so. I felt I’ve built up a profile from the inside out, really. People knew about me on blogs and the internet then the critics on newspapers started writing about me, it very much came from that. Only now are people hearing about me on a wider scale.”

Not that she’s forgotten her roots. “I played a gig in Shrewsbury once, at Pizza Express. It was my first gig. There was me and this guy I was seeing, we were in a band together, and we just played a few covers. It was my first taste of playing with a band, I was so nervous.”

The future is decidedly bright for the former pupil of Lady Hawkins High School, who honed her musical talent at Hereford Sixth Form College before moving onto Kent University. Indeed, Ellie realises she must be doing something right - because a small number of critics have already engineered a backlash.

The first album: Lights.

Escape

“People have been quite unfair to me. The people who knew me in the beginning knew why I was doing it. They knew I had a genuine love for music and that I didn’t have the greatest childhood. So I ended up listening to music as a sort of escape.

“The unfairness stems from things like the BRIT award and Critics Choice because it instantly puts so much pressure on. Even if I was the best performer in the world people would still want more because I’ve been given such accolades.

“It’s kind of a shame because even though I feel so much gratitude for getting these things, there’s also been a bit of a backlash. I’ve stayed completely silent on the fact that there were a few people who referred more to the hype than the quality of the album. I thought that was really unfair.”

V Festival beckons and Ellie has already started writing songs for her new album. “I’m excited about all the festivals. V Festival is a bit closer to home. Dizzy Rascal is playing and Florence and the Machine are too. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll be writing the second album soon but want to keep going with the first album now.”