The best part of breaking up isn’t making up, as The Ronettes famously sang, but getting a new album out of the split. Maybe not for the artist involved, but certainly from a fan’s vantage point.

Following in the heartbroken heels of Adele’s 21, fellow Brit Ellie Goulding will release her sophomore album, Halcyon, on October 9. “This album for me is a journey from dark into light from confusion to understanding,” she says. “I didn’t set out to write a break-up record but I think it became one.”

Largely recorded in a converted barn in her hometown in the Hay Valley, West England, Halcyon was co-produced by Goulding and Jim Eliot (Kylie Minogue, Will Young). First single, “Anything Could Happen,” premieres on August 13 via a lyric video being created with help from Goulding’s fans on Instagram, and will reach digital retailers on August 21.

The book isn’t quite closed on Goulding’s 2010 debut, Lights, however. The title track is still going strong on the current Billboard Hot 100, reaching a new #4 peak last week. Since Goulding’s enjoyed such a slow build in the states, I expected her follow-up single would be plucked from the same set, but now it looks like “Anything Could Happen.”

Preview Goulding’s new direction via her cover of Active Child’s “Hanging On,” shared earlier this month.

UPDATE 8/3: Goulding has posted an album trailer for Halcyon, featuring snippets of a few tracks, including “Anything Could Happen.”