FEATURE:
After the Retrial…
IN THIS PHOTO: Sophie Ellis-Bextor
The New Success of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor, and How Early/Mid-2000s Music Still Resonates
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I shall mention another…
great Pop song from a British artist from the earl/mid-2000s that has received some unexpected chart success now. Before that, I wanted to congratulate Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor. Released on 3rd December, 2001, it was the second single from her debut album, Read My Lips. Following its amazing first single, Take Me Home, Murder on the Dancefloor confirmed Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s place as an incredible artist with a distinct voice. Hitting number two in the singles chart, it is her best-known song. It has received a new lease of attention and chart success. It is at number two in the U.K. now because of its appearance in the film, Saltburn. Emerald Fennell’s film has given that song a new spotlight. Appearing through TikTok videos and shared on social media, a new generation are discovering this amazing song. There are a few reasons why it is a chart success in 2024. It is a timeless song that is catchy and has an amazing chorus. A song to dance to and feel free, there is also a depth regarding its lyrics. Written by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Gregg Alexander, there is something magical about the song that crosses music tastes and boundaries. Irresistible and fresh, this is a song that has already inspired a new generation of Pop artists. As they have their songs shared and seen on TikTok, it is only understandable that Ellis -Bextor should get an audience there. Not that Murder on the Dancefloor is a ‘TikTok song’. It has that instant connection and accessibility. Unlike so many other modern Pop songs, this 2001 classic also brings listeners back to a great time for Pop. When we had queens like Ellis-Bextor reigning here and stars like Britney Spears in the U.S., it was a rich and consistently brilliant period where we saw many Pop classics. I discovered Sophie Ellis-Bextor through her 2000 hit with Spiller, Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love). An instantly recognisable and standout voice, I was hooked. Read My Lips is an amazing debut album that is full of brilliant music. In 2022, Kate Bush enjoyed reassurance when her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), hit the top of the singles chart here. That time, Netflix’s Stranger Things included the track in a powerful moment. I don’t think the Saltburn-Murder on the Dancefloor scenario is the same thing. In any case, it has given a new life and focus on a tremendous song.
I want to come to an article from The Guardian. They interviewed Sophie Ellis-Bextor in light of current success of Murder on the Dancefloor. It is pleasing to hear that, in a full circle moment, she is working on a new album that is more Dance-orientated. Maybe a new album that nods to some of the sounds that were on 2002’s Read My Lips. One of our finest and most celebrated artists is rightfully having one of her songs taken to heart by listeners who might not have caught it the first time around:
“One Saltburn TikTok trend shows rich kids prancing through their own lavish homes to Ellis-Bextor’s song (albeit fully clothed), which provoked commentary that either they had missed the point of the film – or that Fennell’s intended class satire had missed its mark. “Insane,” Ellis-Bextor said of the videos. “So funny.” As her song began rising in popularity, she recorded her own dancing TikTok in a hotel on New Year’s Eve. Far from a country house, “everyone thought I was in a Wetherspoon’s”, she said. Elsewhere, Saltburn star Richard E Grant and Paris Hilton have made videos using the song.
Saltburn has found a widespread audience among Gen Z despite divisive reviews. Critic Simran Hans was one of many to pan the film, and theorised that its brash music-video-style set-pieces, such as Oliver’s naked dance, have a “screen-shottable, meme-able quality, to the point where it actually works better out of context” – to wit, Saltburn-themed videos have accumulated 4bn views on TikTok. “It’s telling that it’s resonated most with a Gen Z audience, many of whom have likely enjoyed a piecemeal version of it online,” said Hans.
This week Murder on the Dancefloor – which began life as a demo by the New Radicals songwriter Gregg Alexander – also made its US Hot 100 debut at No 98. It is the latest catalogue hit to experience a chart spike thanks to a well-placed sync or viral moment. Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill reached No 1 in 2022 thanks to a spot in Stranger Things, 37 years after its original release. And in 2020, Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams returned to the charts more than 40 years on after it soundtracked a viral skateboarding TikTok.
Tom Gallacher is general manager at Rhino UK, the catalogue label of Warner Music, who worked on both songs’ viral campaigns. Artists must walk a fine line when managing – or capitalising on – these flashpoints, he said, contrivance being anathema to authenticity-obsessed Gen Z. Fleetwood Mac got involved with the meme, while Bush was moved to give a rare interview to BBC Radio 4. Internally, labels might re-top an act’s greatest-hits playlist with the rising song – Universal rushed out a Murder on the Dancefloor remix EP to capitalise on the clamour – or petition Spotify to add the hit track to various themed playlists to further extend its audience. These careful tactics, he said, can create a wider catalogue spike. “You get new fans who keep on coming back.”
@sophieebtiktok Heading into 2024 like… Happy Saltburn New Year! Xx #murderonthedancefloor #sophieellisbextor #saltburnmovie ♬ sophs awful edit thats gone viral - sophie
On TikTok, the song’s hashtag has more than 92.2m views and has been featured in more than 418,000 videos – a 444% increase over the past week. The oldest members of Gen Z would have been about five years old when Murder on the Dancefloor was first released. Ellis-Bextor said her five sons have grown up with the song, but are now dealing with it moving from being part of their mum’s history to part of their social world: “My 14-year old is seeing it on TikTok, my eldest is seeing his friends play it in clubs in the US,” she said. “My 11-year-old heard it on the radio the other day and said: ‘I think this song’s overrated.’”
While this viral moment will eventually pass, the song has a lasting significance for Ellis-Bextor. In her 2021 memoir Music, Men, Motherhood and Me, she wrote about being in a contemporaneous relationship with an older man whom she characterised as abusive and controlling: at his worst, she said he wouldn’t let her walk down the street alone and once twisted her wrist until it swelled. The original single’s success, she said, took her around the world and opened her eyes to “experiences and listening to people’s stories”, which helped her leave.
“I was working with a lot of women who were older than me, so I’d listen to their wisdom as well,” she said. “Brick by brick, it gave me the tools to be strong enough, when the time came, to get out of this. It was quite a strange juxtaposition but that’s probably not that unusual in some ways – if you’re in a dynamic that’s unhealthy, and suddenly your work is making you more visible, then the flip of that is the person who doesn’t really like that trying to bring you down a bit more when you’re home.” Months after the song’s release, Ellis-Bextor met her husband, Richard Jones, bassist with pop-rock band the Feeling”
Any artist has to “go where the energy and momentum is,” she said. “That’s what creativity absolutely thrives on.” Coincidentally, she said, she had begun work on a more dance-oriented album before Murder on the Dancefloor went viral, writing with Cathy Dennis and Richard X. “It’s definitely made me feel like the stars are aligning.”
Having vanquished Victoria Beckham in 2000, Ellis-Bextor’s current chart rivals are Liam Gallagher and John Squire with their debut collaborative single, Just Another Rainbow. Can she take them? “I’m not falling for that!” she said. “Come on, I had to deal with all that the first time around. Let me off the hook! I think it’s a bit churlish to be stamping my foot: I don’t just want my two-decade hit to come back, I want it to be No 1! Whatever happens, it’s all magic”.
I think that a new generation of social media users and music fans connecting with Pop music of the 2000s. Even though Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor is enjoying the headlines and chart success, another interesting talking point comes from another British Pop classic: Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 single, Unwritten. Taken from the album of the same name, the single originally went to number six in the U.K. Again, its use on screen and momentum from streaming and social media means that a song that some might not have heard is getting some fresh life and discussion. Billboard reveal how Unwritten was used in a key scene in a new film:
“During the holidays (Dec. 22), Anyone But You – which stars Emmy nominee Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell – delighted rom-com fans across movie theatres. In the Shakespeare-inspired story, Natasha Bedingfield’s pop classic “Unwritten” plays a pivotal role in the narrative of Powell’s character. The song plays and is sung by multiple characters throughout the film, easily making it the defining musical characteristic of the Will Gluck-helmed movie.
According to Luminate, “Unwritten” earned over 1.3 million official on-demand streams during the period of Dec. 29-Jan. 1, marking an eye-popping 156.3% increase from just over 511,000 streams the weekend prior (Dec. 22-25). Since the film hit theatres, TikTok has seen a wave of videos using the official “Unwritten” sound to soundtrack viewers leaving Anyone But You screenings in high spirits. That sound boasts over 39,400 posts on TikTok. Bedingfield has since posted a pair of TikToks celebrating the song’s resurgence. “A rom com has got girls falling out of cinemas singing my song — and now it’s trending!!!” she wrote in an intro to a compilation of post-Anyone But You “Unwritten” TikToks”.
I think that the early and mid-2000s was a fertile time where some of the best tracks ever were released. A wonderful time where Pop and R&B were reigning, I am not surprised that Natasha Bedingfield and Sophie Ellis-Bextor are seeing songs of theirs from that time back at the forefront. The production and sound of the music still is relevant. Artists of now producing music that has a similar sound. Maybe not as strong and distinct as these songs, I feel that Pop music from twenty years ago is very influential today. There is also the power of films and how they use music. Not a new phenomenon, if a song does appear on the big screen and is seen by a lot of people, that then means it can have this fresh wave of acclaim and chart success. I am glad that we get to talk about amazing songs from two of our best artists. Sophie Ellis-Bextor has reacted with amazement that Murder on the Dancefloor is a modern-day smash. Resonating with people and riding high in the charts, this will open doors. I feel more songs from the period – 2001 through to 2004 – will be used in films. More investigation and appreciation of the music scene of that time. Also, it shows the brilliance of pairing great cinema with a perfect song. How one can never write off a song and feel it is of its period. There is something about a great Pop song that means it connects with people right through the decades. As Ellis-Bextor sings in Murder on the Dancefloor: “If you think you're getting away/I will prove you wrong”. When it comes to this golden song and its 2024 success via Saltburn, that is definitely this case. This wonderful gem is…
VERY much here to stay!