'You don't have to dress like a skank to be a successful singer': Ellie Goulding insists her provocative outfits are a choice

PUBLISHED: 15:37, 6 March 2014 | UPDATED: 16:58, 6 March 2014

She's been hitting headlines over the past few months with the provocative outfits she has been wearing.

But now Ellie Goulding has opened up about the reasons behind her sense of style, insisting that she chooses to wear what she does to look good, and not to get ahead in the music industry.

Ellie told Hunger magazine: 'I don't have anything against being sexy. If a popstar exposes herself or doesn't wear a lot, it doesn't really bother me the way it bothers other people.

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It's a choice: Ellie Goulding has insisted that her sexy outfits are not to get ahead in the music industry

I feel like people are less fussed about it in America, whereas in the UK people are a little more reserved. But if someone's making good music, I don't care about anyone else.

'Some of the most successful girls don't portray themselves as sex symbols. Lorde is doing exceptionally well - she's been number one in America for ages and she doesn't dress like a skank. Lily Allen is doing really well and she doesn't dress provocatively. If you make good music, then that's all you need.'

Ellie also said her changing sense of style is down to the amount of confidence she has gained over the past few years.

Role models: Ellie cited Lorde and Lily Allen as good examples of singers who are successful without dressing provocatively

Growing in confidence: Ellie has enjoyed huge success over the past few years but says she doesn't enjoy the rise in fame that accompanies it

She said: 'I think I feel more confident with how I look and my body in general. I've always exercised and eaten fairly well, and I've given up eating meat and fish. I feel like I've matured - I can wear what I want now and be confident.

The full interview appears in Issue 06 of Hunger magazine

'All the awkwardness of my teenage years and early twenties has passed. You just become comfortable and everything falls into place.'

The 27-year-old singer was also quick to dismiss rumours that she is a boring celebrity, insisting that she just keeps the juicier details of her life out of the public eye.

She said: 'Everyone thinks that I'm a very sensible person that I don't do anything naughty. They couldn't be more wrong. Actually, I just keep things out of the press.

'I just don't want anything to detract from my music. I'm quite cool with what people know at the moment. They've got nothing to judge me on apart from my music - and that's the way I like it.'

Over the past few years, Ellie has enjoyed a huge boost in success - culminating on winning the Woman of the Year gong at the recent BRIT Awards.

But Ellie admitted that with the career boost comes a rise in her celebrity status - an aspect of her job she doesn't enjoy as much.

She said: 'My life has become a lot crazier in the last year. I think people definitely recognise me a lot more now and that affects me. I actually get quite freaked out when people stare at me or start taking pictures - I'll never get used to that. I'd enjoy being slightly more anonymous again.

'My life has become so different to how it was five years ago - when I'd finished university and was living by myself in a little flat in Hammersmith - that it's hard to remember what "normal" is.'

The full interview with Ellie appears in Issue 06 of Hunger magazine.