Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Saltburn led to 110 gigs in 2024

In 2024 Sophie Ellis-Bextor played more shows than she ever has before – 110.

To put this into context, Taylor Swift’s total for the year (albeit on a bigger scale) was 83.

The singer is clear as to the reason – the film Saltburn. Or more specifically, the scene in Emerald Fennell’s black comedy about class and privilege, where Barry Keoghan dances triumphantly, and completely naked, through a country house, to her track Murder on the Dancefloor.

“It was over Christmas last year, we were at home, and just seeing the numbers going crazy for people interacting with the song on streaming and TikTok,” she says, remembering when she first noticed something unusual was happening with a song that was more than 20 years old.

On 22 December 2023, Saltburn was released on Amazon Prime. By 5 January 2024, Murder on the Dancefloor was back in the top 10 and would spend five weeks at number two, only kept off the top spot by Noah Kahan’s Stick Season.

“The year started with an old friend Murder on the Dancefloor taking me for another twirl,” is how she sums it up.

“To be honest, at that time it was all quite abstract, and I think this year has been about turning it into an actuality.”

In 2024, at the age of 45, Ellis-Bextor had her debut hit single on the Billboard Top 100, made her live US TV debut as the musical guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and embarked on her first ever headlining tour of the States.

Murder on the Dancefloor was also her ticket to singing at the Bafta Film Awards, making a guest appearance during the DJ Peggy Gou’s headlining set on the Park stage at Glastonbury, and even performing in front of King Charles at the Royal Variety Show.

“There is so much to reflect on. It’s an extraordinary thing to get to my stage in my career and still be doing new things, new excitement. So, I really wanted to grab hold of that.”

Her year is ending with another massive milestone, because on Tuesday night, TV audiences will see her 110th show of 2024, one she describes as a “career highlight”.

Standing in London’s Hammersmith Studios, beneath what a production manager says is the “biggest disco ball in the country”, Sophie Ellis-Bextor is rehearsing for the BBC One New Year’s Eve concert, broadcast either side of the midnight fireworks.

“This is the cherry on top,” she enthuses about being chosen by BBC Studios to follow the likes of Robbie Williams, Alicia Keys and Craig David, who have performed this gig in the past.

Last year more than seven million people were watching as Rick Astley handed over to Big Ben.

Ellis-Bextor says that for the last two months, and whilst on tour supporting the Human League, she has been using down time to plan extensively for the show, with her husband and musical director, Richard Jones, who is also the bass player for The Feeling.

“New Year’s Eve is such a big deal, and I don’t take it lightly if people are choosing to spend it with us,” she confides.

“So, I want to make sure we try and create the ultimate New Year’s Eve party. I just want to give this last boost of escapist fun. I mean, look at how many disco balls we’ve got here. We’ve got them all. A monopoly.”

Her biggest hits will all feature; Take Me Home, Music Gets the Best of Me and the track which famously beat Victoria Beckham to number one and will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025, Groovejet. (“It was an extraordinary time, but kind of silly.”)

And 2025 will, of course, start with Murder on the Dancefloor, “but after a little bit of Auld Lang Syne,” she clarifies.

To make the show even more special, Ellis-Bextor has enlisted some of her musical mates.

“I’ve got Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters,” she confirms with relish.

“Their album came out not too long after my first album, so we used to do a lot of stuff together. We’ve had some nights out, but it’s actually the first time we’ve sung together.”

They will be duetting on two of Scissor Sisters’ best-known tracks, including Take Your Mama, which will feature what Ellis-Bexter describes as “an epic guitar solo” by Emily Roberts, from the Brit-winning group The Last Dinner Party.

“I’m a massive fan of their band,” she says, having covered their song Nothing Matters for the Radio One Live Lounge back in February.

Indeed, indie music is where Ellis-Bexter started out. She first made the charts in 1998 as lead singer of theaudience, a band who made up for their lack of capital letters and use of the space bar with a couple of rather catchy Smiths influenced post-Britpop top 40 hits.

Andy Gill in the Independent called their eponymous debut album “the final cherry on the Britpop cake”.

She performed their single A Pessimist is Never Disappointed as an a capella encore on this year’s US tour.

Also on Tuesday evening’s team sheet is her friend and fellow pop singer podcaster, Jessie Ware, for a stomp through the disco classic Yes Sir, I Can Boogie. (“I didn’t even need to tell her to bring the sequins. She just brought it.”)

I point out how popular this will be in Scotland, the song having become a Tartan Army anthem, and she laughs, remembering the first time she played it north of the border, before the link was explained to her.

“They went so nuts for it. I just thought they were massive Baccara fans,” she laughs.

“Although I have to say, there has to be a bit of work done on the verses. Everybody knows all the words to the chorus, but when it gets to the verse it’s ‘mmmm mmmmm.’”

As for New Year’s resolutions, Ellis-Bextor believes in making fun ones and managed to keep her 2024 pledge to “wear more kaftans”.

For 2025 she has challenged herself to buy more disco balls: “I’ve only got one in my house and I think this is a great look,” she says, gesturing towards the stage and the UK’s supposed biggest disco ball.

I express my hope that the glitter ball is safely attached, because if it fell when she was under it, then the title of the song that changed her 2024 would become rather apt.

“When I die, they are going to make that joke no matter what,” she laughs, before concluding, “The good news is I still love singing it. Imagine if I didn’t.”

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s New Year’s Eve Disco, is on BBC1 from 23:30, except in Scotland, where the Hogmany coverage will feature musical guests Marti Pellow and the folk band Skipinnish.