A studio became the refuge. Globally acclaimed singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding returns with her new single “Black Prada Dress,” arriving alongside news of her highly anticipated sixth studio album ‘I Know Too Much,’ due September 4. You can listen now.
She premiered the track during her set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend over the bank holiday, and clips spread fast across social media. On Sunday, June 7, Ellie returns to “Later… with Jools Holland” to perform the single, a full-circle moment for an artist who first appeared on the show in 2009 ahead of her debut album.
“Black Prada Dress” digs into the tension between perception and reality, a caustic, self-aware portrait of the fractured selves people build to survive, perform and protect themselves, unravelling in real time. Ellie wrote the song and album executive producer Jack Rochon produced it. She discovered Rochon on TikTok while he was still relatively unknown, trusting the same instinct for emerging talent that led her to producer Starsmith early in her own career, and the pair shaped the album together over the past couple of years.
“‘Black Prada Dress’ really sets the tone for I Know Too Much,” Ellie says. “The album came from the idea that maybe we can know too much. There is a certain kind of freedom in the ease of not knowing. This album is a collection of songs that represent a crossroads in my life where I realized what the freedom of not knowing has gifted me in the past, yet a time when I am at the precipice of understanding the true power in knowing. Through the chaos of this great change, I went to my comfort zone and found my refuge in the studio. My initial instinct was I didn’t know where it was all going, but I just knew I needed to be in the studio. Writing a song has always been my best form of therapy.”
The single arrives with the sharp, emotionally precise songwriting that has defined her catalogue, a striking opening statement for the era ahead.
Ellie’s numbers are staggering. She’s one of the most successful artists of the 21st century, with over 55 billion streams globally and more than 44 million albums sold. Among the top five most-streamed British female artists in the world, she holds the UK record for the most number 1 albums by a British female artist, tied with Adele, along with the most UK Singles Chart entries of any British female solo artist in history.
Her catalogue stays remarkably alive online. “Starry Eyed” recently returned to the UK Official Charts after hitting number 1 on TikTok earlier this year, underscoring her standing as one of pop’s most enduring voices. Her reach extends through collaborations with Calvin Harris, Kygo, Skrillex, Diplo and Major Lazer, and her songs have been sampled by artists including Drake and Jay-Z.