Ellie Goulding feared she'd lost her songwriting ability while making her new album

Speaking on Instagram Live, Ellie - whose last album, 'Delirium', was released in 2015 - shared: "I did a whole month of sessions in LA and for some reason they weren't going well. For some reason I was having a hard time.

"And then when you have a succession of sessions that don't go well, you suddenly think you've lost all of your powers and you can't write and you're rubbish. That's just classic me.

"I ended up getting two songs. One was 'Slow Grenade'. Some of the lyrics are poignant to what's going on in the world. I hope the songs will be helpful in some way. I dunno, therapy."

Last month, meanwhile, Ellie claimed her environmental campaigning has hurt her career.

The singer is a UN environment ambassador and is often outspoken on so-called green issues, but Ellie believes her campaigning has lost her fans over the years.

She said: "I genuinely thought that the activism would jeopardise my job, and I believe it has.

"Every time I post anything about climate change, I lose at least a thousand followers. People are following me for a very specific reason and it's not the environment.

"People say, 'f*** you posting this. We don't want to hear this. This is not what we're interested in. Stop preaching. Climate change isn't real.'

"I've had to be very careful and it is really difficult at times. And I think that's why there is a lack of artists speaking out about it, because they're just terrified for their job."