Four years after the critically-acclaimed Safe Trip Home became Dido’s third platinum seller, taking her to an astonishing career total of 29 million albums sold worldwide, London-based recording artist and songwriter returns with her fourth album. And it’s no exaggeration to say that Girl Who Got Away might just be her finest record yet. These are the songs of defiance, hope and heartbreak to make the planet fall in love and connect with Dido all over again.

Recording Girl Who Got Away, Dido was often reminded of making No Angel, her debut album which remains one of the biggest-selling records of this century. Like that world-conquering debut, her new album is built around waves of sumptuous beats, Dido’s softly powerful voice and a host of strikingly memorable songs. Warm, evocative and bursting with the emotion of life’s little details, Girl Who Got Away is classic Dido; at once modern and timeless.

Also, as with No Angel (and, indeed, its 2003 follow-up, Life For Rent) the majority of the new album’s literate, life-affirming songs were written and produced by Dido and her brother, Faithless founder Rollo Armstrong. And, just like in the early days, she worked on it without really imagining that people would ever hear it.

“It was an incredibly fun record to make,” she beams. “There was no pressure on me at all. It’s all been so natural and easy.” Dido had a blast, whether working alone at her kitchen table or alongside trusted top-notch collaborators Brian Eno, Jeff Bhasker, Rick Nowels, Greg Kurstin and, of course, Rollo in various home studios and hotel rooms on either side of the Atlantic. “On every other record I’ve made, there have been really tricky days,” she says, “but there weren’t any like that on this one.”

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