Ellie Goulding turns a period of major change into some of her most revealing music yet on I Know Too Much, her sixth studio album and first since 2023’s Higher Than Heaven. Across 10 songs, Goulding takes stock of love, heartbreak, identity and everything that comes with realizing experience can be both a gift and a burden.

The album grew out of a turbulent stretch in Goulding’s life, with the studio becoming a place to sort through what she was feeling rather than simply escape it. She has described the writing process as a kind of musical journaling, built around the idea that there can be freedom in not having all the answers. That perspective gives I Know Too Much its emotional center, with Goulding writing with a candor that feels particularly suited to where she is now in her life and career.

Musically, the album pulls together several sides of Goulding that have emerged over the years, moving between electronic pop, acoustic textures and the atmospheric production that has long surrounded her unmistakable voice. Executive producer Jack Rochon, whom Goulding initially discovered through TikTok, became a key collaborator, working with her over the course of several years as the album took shape.

The sharp-edged “Black Prada Dress” examines the different versions of ourselves we create for other people, while “4 Seasons” shifts into something warmer and more vulnerable, pairing acoustic guitar with shimmering electronics as Goulding captures the rush of falling in love. Elsewhere, “Ravers” reconnects her with the dance music that has remained an important part of her career, while songs including “Jealousy,” “Loser,” “Misremember You” and the title track suggest an album willing to look at relationships from several uncomfortable angles.

That openness marks an interesting turn after Higher Than Heaven, an album Goulding deliberately approached without making her personal life its focus. This time she has considerably more to say. After more than 15 years of moving between intimate singer-songwriter material, adventurous electronic music and enormous pop records, I Know Too Much brings those different instincts together while allowing Goulding’s own story to take center stage.