Hi °C | Lo °C 
Ellie Goulding has admitted she has to "put up a barrier" before performing songs inspired by her own heartache.
The singer released her second album, Halcyon, this year and much of the record was inspired by her break-up with BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James.
Ellie said that performing the personal songs of heartbreak each night is easy - as long as she acts her way through them.
"I just put up a barrier before I perform those songs," she said.
"It's just like acting - acting a really tragic, horrific event that happened to someone else. Sometimes that slips and I'll go back to feeling how I did when I wrote the song, feeling vulnerable.
"The feeling is always there, I just have to avoid it so I can perform the songs every night."
Ellie is set to tour the UK and said she particularly loves performing on home turf.
"It's a warmer feeling generally," she said. "The humour is different, and in places like Glasgow and Edinburgh, really rowdy."
:: Ellie Goulding begins her UK tour on December 7.
