Ellie Goulding has said she will need to build up her courage before she starts singing to audiences again.
The 33-year-old, who has sold a staggering 15 million albums worldwide, is set to tour again next year with her fourth studio release, Brightest Blue.
But the star has admitted that she may struggle to perform live, revealing she has become “shyer” during the UK’s three-month lockdown.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Goulding said she had rewatched her 2016 Glastonbury performance over the weekend and had been taken aback by the size of the crowd.
“I can’t even imagine now performing on stage,” she explained. “I watched my Glastonbury performance and I can’t believe I did that in front of all those people.
“I think I am going to have to build up all that courage. When I am on stage I definitely feel like I go into that other character, where I have this confidence out of nowhere.
“But as soon as I go off stage… I have never gone to any of my own after-show parties, genuinely, in the whole time I have toured because I am just a bit too shy.”
Goulding added that lockdown has only reinforced her introverted nature.
“There is always a misconception that if you are a performer and you can perform to all those people, that you must be a very confident extrovert person,” she said.
“But actually I am the complete opposite. I think also this time has made me even more so.
“I have spent a lot of time by myself and I think I am going to have to build that back up again, whenever I do go back on tour.
“I am going back on tour next year, not this year, so hopefully everything will be a bit better then. It’s going to be quite surreal.”
Goulding added that lockdown has seen her try and manage to master a new instrument for her songwriting, turning her attentions towards the piano.
“I am a guitarist by trade but I have been desperately trying to teach myself piano,” she explained. “I hear my music in a different way when I play it on the piano.
“So maybe by next year I will be vaguely accomplished.”
Brightest Blue is available for pre-order ahead of its release on Friday July 17.
Additional reporting by PA
