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Ellie Goulding felt 'vulnerable' surrounded by men in recording studios during early career

Ellie Goulding felt "vulnerable" and uncomfortable often being the only woman in the recording studio at the start of her career.

The Love Me Like You Do singer admitted on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday that the #MeToo movement, which was popularised in 2017, has made the music industry much safer today than when she started out in 2010.

Reflecting on her experiences in her early career, she said, "It was very obvious to me that I was a woman with mostly men around me. And it was a bit intimidating and there were times where I felt a bit vulnerable and then when I went into the studios years down the line I still felt that vulnerability."

Ellie, who guest edited the programme, shared that she was sometimes asked to go for a drink by a producer after a day in the studio.

"I'm quite a polite person, I don't like letting people down. I don't like disappointing people. So I was like, 'Yeah, sure, absolutely, go for a drink.' And then it sort of somehow becomes like a romantic thing when it shouldn't," she recalled. "You don't want it to be a romantic thing, but it's like there was always a slight feeling of discomfort when you walked into a studio and it was just one or two men writing or producing."

The 36-year-old confessed that such advances were a "kind of currency" in the music industry, and she only realised she "wasn't alone" with her experiences after the #MeToo movement empowered women to speak out about sexual harassment and abuse.

"It was like a sort of unspoken thing where if you're working with male producers, that was almost like an expectation, which sounds mad for me to say out loud, and it definitely wouldn't happen now. I mean, very rarely, because things have just really changed," she stated.

Photo: Cover Media
Source: Cover Media
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