Lea Michele appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday to perform her new single “Cannonball”. During the interview, the 27-year-old Glee star talked about her upcoming album, Louder, and even opened up about the tragic death of boyfriend Cory Monteith.

When asked how she’s doing, Lea said, “I’m doing well…It’s certainly been a pretty rough year, but I have been surrounded by great people.”

About working on the hit Fox show since Cory’s passing, Lea revealed, “Ya well Ryan Murphy, who is so amazing, he came to Kate [Hudson]‘s house [where Lea was staying to avoid being in her house] and he said what do you want to do, whatever you want to do we’ll do. I said I have to go back to work. We have to do this.  They’re my family and what people also don’t understand is that going to work is no harder than being at home and being in the house and opening up a closet and seeing a pair of shoes.”

She added, “There’s this grief that goes with you everyday, whatever you’re doing. When there are great moments, [there are] hard moments so I’d rather, for me, be at work with the people who I love that are going through [it] and it obviously has it’s own triggers, but at the end of the day I feel so safe there. And like I said, they’re my family.”

About her album, Lea has said, “Louder really encompasses my experiences over this past year and my journey as an artist up to this point. There’s a lot of emotion but it’s also very encouraging and hopeful — it’s about pushing forward and living your life in a way that’s louder, stronger and bolder. I’m so excited to share this new side of me with my fans.”

Watch Lea Michele’s interview with Ellen DeGeneres in the video clip below: