Sophie Ellis-Bextor on Attitude’s pick of her six best b-sides, remixes and hidden gems

Attitude caught up with Sophie Ellis-Bextor today ahead of her performance at Brighton & Hove Pride – and we talked LGBTQ allyship and the irrepressible ‘Murder on the Dance Floor’.

“The whole thing with putting music out is, it’s a conversation,” the star said of the aforementioned track, which this year saw a global resurgence after its use in last year’s hit film Saltburn. “The more people that engage with the song, the more life it has. I love it.”

On her message to straight people on how to be a good LGBTQ ally, the ‘Get Over You’ singer said: “It’s about understanding and opening your mind to the fact that everybody has their own experience of the life they’re trying to lead. The more we listen to each other and give each other the space to allow that to happen, the stronger the bond between us will be. And we’ll be better for it.”

We also took the opportunity to delve into Sophie’s back catalogue and get her take on our recent pick of her six best B-sides, remixes and rarities. Read on for a whistle stop tour of impossibly elegant pop history!

Song 1 – ‘Down with Love’ (b-side)

What we said

“A classic case of ‘should have been a single in its own right’, ‘Down with Love’ is exemplary Ellis-Bextor: a dancey bop fuelled with attitude and melodrama as our chanteuse wrestles with the intense uncertainty of falling in love.”

What Sophie said

“That’s a really happy song for me. I wrote it with Barry [Stone] and Jules [Julian Gingell].  We’ve got all the same references for what we like in pop music. We’ve actually been working on some new stuff, too. It’s one of those things when you’re with friends, and you happen to make a song.”

Song 2 – ‘Get Over You/Lady (Hear Me Tonight)’ – live

What we said

“Ellis-Bextor became a household staple during the pandemic, bringing a little joy to the masses through her ‘Kitchen Discos’ where she covered some of her favourite songs. Here, she brilliantly blends her own sassy break-up track with Modjo’s French house classic. The audience’s sing-back of the reprising “aye-aye-aye-aye” is a reminder of just what an engaging and adored live performer she is.”

What Sophie said

“’Get Over You’ has now become the start of what we call ‘The Medley’. Strap yourself in! We’ve actually got a new one; it’s been different incarnations over the years. I love [medleys], because it takes you on a little journey. It wanders all over the place. We even go on a little trip to Ibiza half way through!”

Song 3 – ‘Everything Falls into Place’ (album track)

What we said

“Often, the underdogs of pop aren’t recognised because their music is ahead of the curve. This album track is a perfect example of an artist foreseeing future trends – a slice of minimalist electropop that still feels relevant 20 years later.”

What Sophie said

“This was from my first album, Read My Lips. When I think of that song, I think of that time when… I kind of became a solo artist by default. I was in a band [The Audience]. Then the band split up, and I was a singer without a band. Also known as a solo artist! I guess I was compiling all my favourite things in pop – and disco, dance and indie. Happy days!”

Song 4 – ‘Not Giving Up on Love – Glenn Morrison Remix’

What we said

“Ellis-Bextor teamed up with Armin Van Buuren to produce (in this writer’s opinion) an underrated hit about refusing to end a turbulent relationship. This remix brings a dancier edge to what was already a defiant and powerful track.”

What Sophie said

“To me, being a pop artist is a bit like being in a sweet shop. You get to eat lots of different sweets. This was a sweet I picked from the trance shelf! I worked with Armin van Buuren, one of the biggest trance DJs in the world. He’s a very talented man. Fun fact: the song was written over a completely different chord structure. I went to these amazing girls known as Nervo, these sisters [called Olivia Nervo and Miriam Nervo] from Australia. Armin took it away and reworked it. I was very impressed with him. It’s quite an emotional trance song. I’m going to play it today!”

Song 5 – ‘Here Comes the Rapture’ (album track)

What we said

“Recorded during Ellis-Bextor’s critically acclaimed folk era, the singer established herself as a more serious musician. Here, the epic-sounding ballad is at once beautiful and dramatic.”

What Sophie said

“I had a very happy decade writing songs with a very talented singer-songwriter called Ed Harcourt, on Wanderlust, Familia and Hana. This is from Familia. It’s funny because each of the three albums we did together had a different geographical landscape that we would take ourselves to, to inspire us. That album, broadly speaking, is our Latin American [feel], hot climes, drinking margaritas, that kind of thing. But that song is very British love song. I’m really grateful to Ed, because he let me write a song in a totally different way.”

Song 6 – ‘Murder on the Dance Floor (Orchestral Disco Version)’

What we said

“As playful as the pop-star behind it, this rendition from Ellis-Bextor’s orchestral album features a full string accompaniment and a cheeky pair of castanets – a plucky and peppy spin on a pop classic.”

What Sophie said

“A few years back, I was being asked a little bit about doing a greatest hits. I thought, ‘that’s a bit boring. What if I did them all with an orchestra?’ Thus began this project. I got a friend of mine called Amy Langley to do orchestral arrangements of all my singles. It turned into a double album. I was lucky enough to tour it with an orchestra. For ‘Murder’ we had a little bit of fun. We gave it a Spanish flavour, really. It’s got castanets and Spanish guitar. It’s really fun to take songs I’ve played in the traditional way for a long time and stretch them and pull them in a different way.”