Sophie Ellis-Bextor says 'Murder on the Dancefloor' has "given me a real adventure"

Publish Date: Wednesday, 31 January 2024, 10:00AM

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The absolute banger of a song is enjoying a new lease of life - two decades after it was first released - after being featured in THAT 'Saltburn' scene and Sophie is thrilled that it is being experienced by a whole new audience.

She told Variety: "I’m just so glad I’m still on such good terms with the song. It’s been communal, it’s been owned by other people for so long already. I’m really happy to keep sharing it. It’s given me a real adventure.

Dreamy duo, Royel Otis covered the bop on Triple J's Like A Version and the way Otis says 'Floor' itches a scratch in my brain I didn't know I had.

@royelotis This one’s for you, @Sophie Ellis Bextor and @Barry Keoghan #saltburn #indiemusic ♬ Murder On The Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

"People who worked on ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’ so many of them I still work with, I’m still in touch with. There are lots of proud uncles and aunties out there of this song. It’s not just about me and the track,” she says. “It’s only with the benefit of time that you can really understand quite how special things are and how unique and what an adventure it is."

Take a musical time machine back to the past and drop it like it’s hot to all the timeless classics that defined your best highschool mems.

New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander originally wrote the song as the intended first single for his band’s 1998 album 'Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too' but he believes Sophie's "lyrical genius" made the song even better.

@sophieebtiktok One of my favourite days ever.. singing in the sunshine last summer on Glastonbury’s pyramid stage in front of the most amazing crowds. Bliss. Thank you @Glastonbury Festival for sending me the footage which i’m so happy to share #murderonthedancefloor #sophieellisbextor #saltburnmovie #ConcertVibes #liveconcert #glastonbury2023 ♬ original sound - Sophie Ellis Bextor

He said: "There are two ‘Murder on the Dancefloors’: New Radicals’ unheard record I gave Sophie an early cassette of, and Sophie’s combining my rough lyrics with her lyrical genius. I wrote the music in my old Mustang in the ’90s, [when] my car broke down. It was gonna be New Radicals’ bawdy first single until I came up with ‘You Get What You Give.’ I dug both equally but spent so much producing this ‘music in you’ idea I worried I’d go broke finishing ‘Murder,’ too. Once Sophie got on mic, her magic owned it. I’m an artist at heart, but moonlighting, I’ve produced Tina Turner to the Strokes and trust me — Sophie’s that uniquely talented."

First published in BangShowbiz, republished here with permission

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