Sophie Ellis-Bextor to release ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ vinyl after ‘Saltburn’ success’
The viral hit will arrive as a bright red 7-inch
By Emily Zemler
Sophie Ellis-Bextor will release her hit single ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ on vinyl for the first time. The song, which originally appeared on the singer’s debut LP Read My Lips, will be available on a limited edition red 7-inch, as well as a limited edition red CD single, from Feb. 16. Both are available to pre-order now.
The 2001 song has seen a resurgence over the past few weeks thanks to its placement in Emerald Fennell‘s movie Saltburn. The track plays during the final scene of the movie in which its star, Barry Keoghan, dances nude — a visual that has inspired a trend on TikTok, helping propel the song onto Billboard’s charts and landed it at No. 2 in the U.K.
Ellis-Bextor herself recreated Keoghan’s dance on TikTok in a rainbow-sequined outfit and an antlers headpiece, while Paris Hilton used the song in a TikTok about her pregnancy. The singer recently spoke to the BBC about the surprise viral success of the track.
“It actually feels really magical, and if I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve completely processed it really,” she said. “It’s extraordinary. It’s a song I’ve been singing for over 20 years. I still love singing it. I love the way people react when I do it live. But for new people to be discovering it, for it to be making new memories with people is kind of beautiful.”
The singer added that when she granted Fennell use of the song, she couldn’t have imagined it would become a hit again. “One of the things I never prepared for is the fact that when you release anything into the world, any new music, it goes off and has its own journey,” she said. “And you’re along for the ride a bit, it also goes places you’re not expecting to go. So what’s happened with the song and how it’s got new people who weren’t even alive the first time it came out listening to it, it’s just spectacular.”
The song continues a trend in recent years of older tracks growing popular again. Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ became ubiquitous four decades after its release thanks to Stranger Things, and Matchbox Twenty’s ‘Push’ enjoyed the Barbie bump last year, close to a quarter of a century after it came out.