Ellie Goulding's break-up forced her to rethink love song ban

Ellie Goulding tried to avoid writing sad love songs for her second album, until she went through a painful break-up just before hitting the studio.

The Lights hitmaker didn't want to use romance as a theme for her new record, but after splitting from DJ Greg James last year (11), she felt compelled to tackle the subject in her new material.

She tells the BBC, "I was determined to make it not about love, because the last one was so much about that.

"But when I did start writing it, I went through a break up and it was really difficult, and so the record ended up being about that.

"I couldn't help it. Every time I went to the studio I ended up writing quite sad songs. But even when I'm in quite a happy state of mind, I like writing really sad songs. I think a lot of people do."