Ellie Goulding is looking forward to see if lockdown has changed her songwriting process.

The 33-year-old singer recently returned to London after spending the last few months in Oxfordshire with her husband Caspar Jopling, who is studying there, and she's interested to find out if having to write with someone else nearby has changed her process at all.

Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: ''We found a way to make it work. I worked upstairs and he was in the office. I've been doing lots of walking and running too.

''I think I'm naturally more of a solitary person so I like to be on my own when I write. I'm looking forward to seeing if this lockdown has changed the way that I write.''

Ellie has just released her new album, 'Brightest Blue', and explained the title is inspired by her belief she can ''prosper in the sadder times''.

She said: ''Blue is quite a joyful colour considering it's associated with being depressed and down in the dumps.

''There definitely is a melancholy tone to the album with the lyrics and it's certainly not like, 'Let's all forget our problems.'

''It's kind of my way of having this illumination that felt like I could prosper in the sadder times. That's what I've always managed to do - to get myself out of those sad times by writing and by getting my feelings out.''

The record is the singer's first in five years and she admitted she didn't feel ''emotionally equipped'' to make an album in that time.

She said: ''There definitely were certain things that set me back. I felt like I was in a place where the songs were not reaching, they weren't strong enough in my opinion.

''So I waited until I was properly ready and emotionally equipped.

''I also had technical stuff, like a change of management, I moved back to London and I got married. So lots of things happened in that time and it's only really now that I feel like I'm completely ready to embrace that life again.''