Photo of Ellie Goulding performing at Bacardi Triangle 2014, courtesy Getty
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Ellie Goulding is "nearly finished" with her third studio album, almost three years after the release of 2012's Halcyon.

"It will be out this year," she promises fans in a new interview with Billboard, insisting: "Even if it's out on [Dec. 30], which is my birthday, it will be out this year."

Explaining that she's reunited with producers such as Diplo, Jim Eliot and Max Martin again, the singer said she feels she is "taking on something a lot bigger than I have before ... sonically it's a lot bigger. I feel like there were maybe certain restrictions on the last album. But I'm at a point now with this album where it's just taken on a new life now of its own and I can't stop it."

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Goulding worked with Martin on her massive hit "Love Me Like You Do," her contribution to this year's Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

She called what Martin and his team do "more than just music. I feel like we all have a real connection. He writes with big artists but he also works with upcoming people. I don't feel like I'm one of those big artists. But I'm also not under the radar, so I think maybe curiosity got the better of him and here we are."