Ellie Goulding doesn't have any problem with Ed Sheeran, insisting they are 'mates'. Photo /Getty

Ellie Goulding insists she and Ed Sheeran are "mates".

While Ed's song Don't is widely believed to be based on a love triangle between him, Goulding and One Direction's Niall Horan, 21, she claims there is no bad blood.

"I saw him the other day, we're mates. I think we have a lot of respect for each other," Goulding, 28, said.

Regarding speculation, which she denies, that her new song On My Mind is based on Sheeran, Ellie said: "I'm sure he finds it funny."

Despite claims to the contrary, Goulding, who has admitted to a previous fling with Horan, insists she and the Give Me Love never dated.

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"We never... dated. I think there was an assumption that we did but we were never together. It's not really me to stick the knife in people, I'm a nice person," she told The Times magazine.

Goulding, who is seeing McFly's Dougie Poynter, added that it infuriates her when: "the focus becomes past relationships when I've achieved so much. I'm kind of tired of being defined by that."

-Bang! Showbiz