March 18, 2024 • 18 mins
Celebrating the incredible resergence of her smash "Murder On The Dancefloor", Sophie Ellis-Bextor chats w us for the first time on AD30, and shares how the song was born, who it was originally written by, and what the incredible resurgence journey has been like for her. She also shares how her smash "Not Giving Up On Love" was born w Armin van Buuren!
We also get to know Sophie better w #FinkysFirsts!!
Find out about:
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
We also get to know Sophie better w #FinkysFirsts!!
Find out about:
- the first thing she wanted to be growing up
- the first thing she would say is weird about her
- the first song she ever wrote
- her first rider
- the first dance song that made her fall in love w EDM
- the first thing to kill her groove
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Sophie, Honestly, I can't believethat we have never chatted or met before,
not only because Murder on the DanceFloor, but you helped write and
sang one of my favorite Armin vanBuren songs of all time, not giving
Up on Love. Yes, yeah, it blows my mind that we have
(00:20):
never chatted before. Oh well,thank you for the love. I've funnily
enough put it back in the set. I'm monteur here in Europe and it's
back in the set. So it'snice having a little trance moment in the
show. It's such a good song. Well, I've got my blood red
polo on in honor of murder,so let's get into this, Sophie,
(00:41):
Ellis Bexter. It is such anhonor having you on the show. Welcome
to America's Dance thirty. Thank yougood to be here, counting down the
(01:02):
biggest dance songs in the country.This is America's Dance thirty. Congratulations on
the insane resurgence of Murder on theDance Floor. It's so crazy, it
is. Every time someone says Ijust start laughing because it's actually really concious,
but it's really fun and yeah,what a blasts lots of fun.
(01:25):
Yeah, I can't wait to hearabout this journey, and I can't wait
to talk about how the song wasborn, especially since I just randomly learned
a crazy fact about the origin ofthe song. But first, let's get
to know Sophie Ellis Bexter a littlebetter with Finkey's first my problem. I
(01:49):
love finding out the origin story ofartists. Your parents were in film and
TV, and you started singing asa teenager, right, I did,
Yeah, And I to be honest, when I started singing, I was
sixteen and I was in a band, and I thought I was just doing
it as a thing to tell mygrandkids. I did once I thought,
(02:10):
you know, it's a right ofpassage. But as soon as I started
singing, I thought, oh no, this is more than that. I
love it and it means something tome, and I've never had a plan
be after that. So you werealready thinking about grandchildren at sixteen. Now,
even though you started singing at sucha young age. Was singing the
first thing you wanted to get intowhen you were growing up or was there
(02:31):
something else you wanted to be Well, if you'd met me at four,
I would have said I wanted tobe a ballerina. If you met me
at seven, I wanted to bea nurse. Then I realized there's quite
a lot of work that goes intoboth those professions. Then I got into
the idea of acting with a sidelinein journalism, actually because I liked the
(02:51):
written word. And then I thoughtabout maybe being a lawyer because I liked
arguing with people. And finally musicjoined all the dots of everything. I
was lucky I found it well.I knew we would get along for a
reason because I actually wanted to bea lawyer when I was growing up too,
because I love arguing too. Yeah, but then I also saw the
kind of work that has to gointo it. I'm like, nah,
(03:13):
I'm good exactly. Now. Igot to talk about this quote that I
saw, and I don't know ifit's real because hashtag Wikipedia, but there
was a quote that said I foundlots of like minded weirdos, So it's
okay, did you really say that? I suppose that was probably to do
with me finding my family. Ithink that's what a lot of teenage he
(03:36):
is about. Isn't it about findingyour tribe? And I think probably like
lots of people. I didn't feelmassively like a fit in at school,
but through music I I found mypeople absolutely, yeah, one hundred percent.
I don't remember calling them weirdos,but I guess I called myself one.
Well, I absolutely love that.Now, if I asked you what
the weirdest thing about you is,what would be the first thing you would
(03:59):
say? Oh, golly, Ithink I'm just a lot older than people
would probably imagine. I mean,I suppose if it's weird, I'm quite
geeky. I mean, golly,isn't everybody a little bit quirky? But
what's quite nice actually about a longcareer is that you get the opportunity to
peel the layers off. So Ithink when I first started out, I
was quite guarded. And you know, in my first band, even when
(04:25):
I had my first solo stuff,I wouldn't really move around. I wouldn't
really reveal much about myself. Andnow it's like, I think I've told
everybody everything. That's awesome. Well, let's talk about this long career.
You know, you've had an incrediblylong music career, starting in indie music,
going into dance music, But doyou remember the first song you ever
(04:46):
wrote? Oh, well, Iwrote songs as a teenager that were really
terrible. I never saw the lightof day. And actually in my first
band, I didn't write at all. So the first song I ever I
wrote that was released is a songI still sing called groove Jet If This
Ain't Love, which is a songI did with a DJ called Spiller.
Yeah. Yeah, that was thefirst song where I ever thought, Okay,
(05:10):
I'll have a girt writing. SoI wrote it alongside a really brilliant
writer called Rob Davis, and yeah, that was my first step into the
world of songwriting. Really, Ijust love her. Whenever I asked artists
about that, usually the first answeris yeah, and it was crap,
absolute you're going somewhere. Oh golly, yeah, and you know, the
(05:32):
crouch songs still happen. Now wejust have to kind of fright through to
the good days, you know,talk about pulling back layers. Now I
saw your post about Gerkins. Arethey really on your writer? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah. In fact,I can see here in Poland that they've
given me two jars in my dressingroom today, so they've got extra high
(05:56):
expectations with me on stage. Yeah, I mean quite a lot of pickles
things but Gerkin's probably top of thetree. See, as much as we
had in common with Law, youjust lost me because I hate pickles.
I'm happy because if we're ever sharing, if we're going out for a burger,
you'll give me the You can haveall of them. There's a happy
(06:17):
relationship. Absolutely. You need toargue about it exactly. Now. Do
you remember your first rider? Ithink I can say my first Girkin.
That's for another conversation. My firstrider, I think what I so,
I first started touring when I waseighteen. I left home and then I
(06:40):
went on a tour of us likemonths after i'd moved out, and I
think I was just blown away bythe whole aspect of touring. And I
would you know, You'd walk intoa room and there'd be all this food.
I didn't realize like the band actuallypaid for that. I thought it
was like free food, so Iwould just be like eating it all.
And I actually remember putting on quitea wait in my first tour because you're
(07:00):
just like, yay, crisps,chocolate sandwiches, let's bring it on.
So I've kind of had to bea bit more restrained now. But yeah,
riders are like you think it's likea gift. Not so much now.
(07:26):
Of course, Murder on the DanceFloor has had an amazing resurgence.
You've worked with some amazing producers inedm Armin Freemason's Spiller, Bob Saint Clair.
Do you remember the first dance songthat made you fall in love with
DM? Well, funny enough,it was groove Jet, because when I
was asked about singing on groove Jetand potentially writing and singing, I didn't
(07:48):
like dance music at all, andI remember very much rejecting the idea and
being slightly insulted. I've been askedbecause I was kids, so I was
doing interviews to promote groove Jet,and I was saying I don't like dance
music, and the pr for thesingle took me to one side and was
that you've got to stop saying now. But I think now we're so used
(08:13):
to like genres, you know,crossing and you know, referring to each
other, but back in the latenineties it wasn't the case. It was
very much like stay in your Lane. So it was really groove Jet and
then singing in clubs and watching DJsthat really introduced me to dance music,
(08:33):
and then through that is when Igot into disco because I was like,
actually I like the storytelling and where'sthat sample from? And I would start
going back in time. So Ikind of came to it in my early
twenties. Really, I just lovelike I'm having a mental picture of the
pr person stopping the interview mid interviewand going, hey, you really need
to stop saying I know, Imean, what a numpty. But I
(08:56):
think I was trying to say ina positive way, like I don't like
dance music and I like this song. But I realized it was probably wasn't
reading that way. Well, thankgod you like it now. Finally,
in honor of murder on the dancefloor, what's the first thing to kill
your groove? Oh? Bad lighting? I think probably on the dance floor
(09:20):
you want to be able to getlost in it a bit. You don't
want to be able to see everythinglike really clearly. So yeah, I
think bad lighting is probably my firstnine nine. You need the right mood.
Absolutely. Well, let's talk aboutthis smash, and before we talk
about the origins of it, theresurgence is just so crazy as an artist,
(09:43):
what is it like for a songof yours that's twenty plus years old.
To now have so much success,well, I think in some ways
i'm still, you know, acknowledgingall of that because it's been such a
wind and so crazy and so magical, but also, as you know,
made my world spin a little bit, and mainly it's been extraordinary fun.
(10:09):
And I'm so glad I'm such goodfriends with Murder a Dancer, because I
really am. It's it's like areally good friend of mine taking me away
for another unexpected like you know,honeymoon or something. Because I started singing
it back then, but I haven'tstopped singing it. I sing it all
the time. It's got lots ofhappy memories for me. I still work
with a lot of the same people, so a lot of the relationships that
(10:31):
were forged around that time in mycareer are still alive and well. So
there's lots of proud aunties and unclesof Murder and Dancer as well as me.
But I love what I do andI'm always One of the things I've
always loved about music is the factthat sometimes things happen that are completely unplanned,
and you've just got to grab yoursurfboard and ride the wave really so
(10:52):
here I am trying not to toppleoff it and having a lot of fun,
and I hope it's not too loudfor you. By the way,
they started sound checking and it's like, you're good. Sorry. It's just
so crazy that we're in a timewhere old songs are having resurgences and sometimes
are even more popular now than theywere when they were originally put out.
(11:16):
I know, isn't that insane?Like what does that teach you about music?
I don't really know. It's like, I suppose the way that people
access music now is like the recordshop is open twenty four hours a day
and everything's in stock, so searchfor the song that suits your mood.
But also it just shows you thatI don't know, sometimes there's just something
in the ether, and I trynot to overanalyze stuff mainly, but just
(11:39):
do things that make me feel good, and then you can kind of have
an adventure with all of it.Really take us through this adventure with Saltburn
and how it happened, and thepoint that you realize and said to yourself,
(12:03):
holy crap, my song is goingviral again. How did this all
happen? So I was approached aboutthe song being in Sulburn, probably about
a year and a bit ago,and I didn't have much information except for
the writer and director being Emerald Fennel, and I knew who she was and
I knew she was talented, soI was like, great, and I
felt flattered she'd approached me. Andit said they wanted to use all of
(12:24):
the song and someone be dancing withnone of their clothes and that was and
I was like, count me in. That sounds like fun. I'm down
for that. But then beyond that, I didn't really I sort of forgot
about it for a little while becausesometimes things ask you for permission and then
you know, they changed their mindor whatever, or it doesn't make the
(12:46):
edit. So then I went tosee a screening of it, and I
went with my mom, my eldestson, and my husband, and so
we had that bonding experience and itwas definitely quite challenging, but we did
all really enjoy it. And Iremember saying to Richard, my husband,
oh, that the film's brilliant,and he said, oh, it is,
(13:07):
but it's you know, it's quiteon the left field, so maybe
some people it won't be for everyone. So it was really when the film
started really picking up pace and overChristmas, when like everybody else, I
was like in my pajamas and athome with the family. I could see
something happening with the song, youknow, on tiktook and on socials,
and I was like, Oh,I think maybe this is something a little
(13:31):
bit extraordinary here. And it wasjust insane because I was sat at home.
Normally, when a song was doingsomething, it's because it's a new
single or you're promoting something, butthis was just doing something all by itself.
And yeah, it was extraordinary.That is magic. That is so
incredible. Let's talk about the originof this song. You know, I
(13:52):
don't even know how it popped up. It just popped up as a suggestion
to me. And I learned thatit was originally written by the lead singer
of New Radicals and it was almosttheir song. How did it make it
to you? Greg says that now, I mean, that's I don't know.
I suppose he would know better thanme about that aspect. I mean,
Greg, I knew him as agreat songwriter. I was writing my
(14:13):
first album and he was at thattime, so we'd had a big hit
with you Get What You Give,and then he had this demo of basically
the bones of what Merger on thedance Well became. So it was a
verse a bridge chorus, and itwas a demo just him with a guitar,
few little flourishes, just an indication, and he very generously said,
(14:35):
if you can finish this off,it's yours. So I went into the
studio recorded some ideas and then weworked on it together to finish it.
And yeah, we're like, it'sproud Mum and dad really And the nice
thing is we speak all the time. Greg and I. We've kept in
touch over the years, and he'salways been like such a cheerleader. He's
a very enthusiastic music fan, butalso interesting and you know artists. And
(15:01):
it was only recently that yeah,he said it was actually a song that
he thought about for new radicals,but I think he thought that he had
all his energy until you get whatYou Give, which is obviously such a
brilliant, brilliant song. Absolutely,now, well that ends right. Something
else that was in the blog,and I don't know if this is the
case or not, but is ittrue that you guys were told not to
do the repeating in the song theI know, I know, I know,
(15:22):
I know. I think I readlike a quote that said that he
was told not to do that bythe record label. Oh, I don't
know. Actually, I mean,I know, I don't know. That's
not why. I think. Bythe time it got to me, it
was very much kind of this thingthat was sort of looking for a home,
I think, so I didn't haveany guidelines at all. And in
fact, when I finished the songand Greg rang me, I thought he
(15:46):
didn't like quite time. He wasjust being a bit charismatic, because he
phoned me up and he went,Sophie, you better not steal the move,
Sophie, and I was like,oh, no, he hates it.
He hates it. But actually wenot only did he like it,
but we ended up writing together alot after that. So we did a
lot of my singles together. AndI don't remember there being any rules about
(16:07):
I know, I know, Iknow, so slicky. Oh it absolutely
is, but it must have beenbefore it got to you. But congratulations
on the success of this song.Now I got to ask, it's not
topical, but just for myself,how did not giving up on love come
together with armin? Oh? Sucha happy thing. So my fourth album,
Make a Scene is my most dancingone I've ever done. So is
(16:29):
Yeah, Armin was on that,as you said, Bob Sinclair, Calvin
Harris, and so I was workingwith these amazing Australian DJs called the Nervo
Twins who you absolute living exactly liveand Mim and I went into the studio
with them, and what I foundreally interesting about working with Armin is that
actually Mim Live and I wrote thetop line to Not Giving Up over a
completely different track. So we hadthis very dark sounding, dramatic trance track.
(16:56):
We wrote the top line and thenarmand took it away and then changed
the chords and actually made it alot more beautiful and tender. And I
was really impressed with him that hedid that, because that's really hard to
do that, to sort of takea song and then dismantle it and then
recreate something. And then I endedup singing it a couple of times as
part of his show, which isinsane because it's like twenty five thousand people
(17:18):
and then I really know, likeI we just pop up out of the
stage and sing with him. Butyeah, he's a really lovely man and
really knows his stuff like the sonicsonthat the production is really on point.
He's very clever. Yeah, Imean that song is an absolute classic.
Congratulations on that, Congratulations on Murderon the dance Floor. Congratulations on your
(17:41):
world tour that you're on right now. That is so incredible. We knew
right, that is so amazing.Sophie Ellis Bexter, Thank you so much
for your time with us on America'sDance thirty. My absolute pleasure and I
like dance music now. By theway, Dance thirties counting down the biggest
(18:02):
dance songs in the country America isDance thirty.
Sophie, Honestly, I can't believethat we have never chatted or met before,
not only because Murder on the DanceFloor, but you helped write and
sang one of my favorite Armin vanBuren songs of all time, not giving
Up on Love. Yes, yeah, it blows my mind that we have
(00:20):
never chatted before. Oh well,thank you for the love. I've funnily
enough put it back in the set. I'm monteur here in Europe and it's
back in the set. So it'snice having a little trance moment in the
show. It's such a good song. Well, I've got my blood red
polo on in honor of murder,so let's get into this, Sophie,
(00:41):
Ellis Bexter. It is such anhonor having you on the show. Welcome
to America's Dance thirty. Thank yougood to be here, counting down the
(01:02):
biggest dance songs in the country.This is America's Dance thirty. Congratulations on
the insane resurgence of Murder on theDance Floor. It's so crazy, it
is. Every time someone says Ijust start laughing because it's actually really concious,
but it's really fun and yeah,what a blasts lots of fun.
(01:25):
Yeah, I can't wait to hearabout this journey, and I can't wait
to talk about how the song wasborn, especially since I just randomly learned
a crazy fact about the origin ofthe song. But first, let's get
to know Sophie Ellis Bexter a littlebetter with Finkey's first my problem. I
(01:49):
love finding out the origin story ofartists. Your parents were in film and
TV, and you started singing asa teenager, right, I did,
Yeah, And I to be honest, when I started singing, I was
sixteen and I was in a band, and I thought I was just doing
it as a thing to tell mygrandkids. I did once I thought,
(02:10):
you know, it's a right ofpassage. But as soon as I started
singing, I thought, oh no, this is more than that. I
love it and it means something tome, and I've never had a plan
be after that. So you werealready thinking about grandchildren at sixteen. Now,
even though you started singing at sucha young age. Was singing the
first thing you wanted to get intowhen you were growing up or was there
(02:31):
something else you wanted to be Well, if you'd met me at four,
I would have said I wanted tobe a ballerina. If you met me
at seven, I wanted to bea nurse. Then I realized there's quite
a lot of work that goes intoboth those professions. Then I got into
the idea of acting with a sidelinein journalism, actually because I liked the
(02:51):
written word. And then I thoughtabout maybe being a lawyer because I liked
arguing with people. And finally musicjoined all the dots of everything. I
was lucky I found it well.I knew we would get along for a
reason because I actually wanted to bea lawyer when I was growing up too,
because I love arguing too. Yeah, but then I also saw the
kind of work that has to gointo it. I'm like, nah,
(03:13):
I'm good exactly. Now. Igot to talk about this quote that I
saw, and I don't know ifit's real because hashtag Wikipedia, but there
was a quote that said I foundlots of like minded weirdos, So it's
okay, did you really say that? I suppose that was probably to do
with me finding my family. Ithink that's what a lot of teenage he
(03:36):
is about. Isn't it about findingyour tribe? And I think probably like
lots of people. I didn't feelmassively like a fit in at school,
but through music I I found mypeople absolutely, yeah, one hundred percent.
I don't remember calling them weirdos,but I guess I called myself one.
Well, I absolutely love that.Now, if I asked you what
the weirdest thing about you is,what would be the first thing you would
(03:59):
say? Oh, golly, Ithink I'm just a lot older than people
would probably imagine. I mean,I suppose if it's weird, I'm quite
geeky. I mean, golly,isn't everybody a little bit quirky? But
what's quite nice actually about a longcareer is that you get the opportunity to
peel the layers off. So Ithink when I first started out, I
was quite guarded. And you know, in my first band, even when
(04:25):
I had my first solo stuff,I wouldn't really move around. I wouldn't
really reveal much about myself. Andnow it's like, I think I've told
everybody everything. That's awesome. Well, let's talk about this long career.
You know, you've had an incrediblylong music career, starting in indie music,
going into dance music, But doyou remember the first song you ever
(04:46):
wrote? Oh, well, Iwrote songs as a teenager that were really
terrible. I never saw the lightof day. And actually in my first
band, I didn't write at all. So the first song I ever I
wrote that was released is a songI still sing called groove Jet If This
Ain't Love, which is a songI did with a DJ called Spiller.
Yeah. Yeah, that was thefirst song where I ever thought, Okay,
(05:10):
I'll have a girt writing. SoI wrote it alongside a really brilliant
writer called Rob Davis, and yeah, that was my first step into the
world of songwriting. Really, Ijust love her. Whenever I asked artists
about that, usually the first answeris yeah, and it was crap,
absolute you're going somewhere. Oh golly, yeah, and you know, the
(05:32):
crouch songs still happen. Now wejust have to kind of fright through to
the good days, you know,talk about pulling back layers. Now I
saw your post about Gerkins. Arethey really on your writer? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah. In fact,I can see here in Poland that they've
given me two jars in my dressingroom today, so they've got extra high
(05:56):
expectations with me on stage. Yeah, I mean quite a lot of pickles
things but Gerkin's probably top of thetree. See, as much as we
had in common with Law, youjust lost me because I hate pickles.
I'm happy because if we're ever sharing, if we're going out for a burger,
you'll give me the You can haveall of them. There's a happy
(06:17):
relationship. Absolutely. You need toargue about it exactly. Now. Do
you remember your first rider? Ithink I can say my first Girkin.
That's for another conversation. My firstrider, I think what I so,
I first started touring when I waseighteen. I left home and then I
(06:40):
went on a tour of us likemonths after i'd moved out, and I
think I was just blown away bythe whole aspect of touring. And I
would you know, You'd walk intoa room and there'd be all this food.
I didn't realize like the band actuallypaid for that. I thought it
was like free food, so Iwould just be like eating it all.
And I actually remember putting on quitea wait in my first tour because you're
(07:00):
just like, yay, crisps,chocolate sandwiches, let's bring it on.
So I've kind of had to bea bit more restrained now. But yeah,
riders are like you think it's likea gift. Not so much now.
(07:26):
Of course, Murder on the DanceFloor has had an amazing resurgence.
You've worked with some amazing producers inedm Armin Freemason's Spiller, Bob Saint Clair.
Do you remember the first dance songthat made you fall in love with
DM? Well, funny enough,it was groove Jet, because when I
was asked about singing on groove Jetand potentially writing and singing, I didn't
(07:48):
like dance music at all, andI remember very much rejecting the idea and
being slightly insulted. I've been askedbecause I was kids, so I was
doing interviews to promote groove Jet,and I was saying I don't like dance
music, and the pr for thesingle took me to one side and was
that you've got to stop saying now. But I think now we're so used
(08:13):
to like genres, you know,crossing and you know, referring to each
other, but back in the latenineties it wasn't the case. It was
very much like stay in your Lane. So it was really groove Jet and
then singing in clubs and watching DJsthat really introduced me to dance music,
(08:33):
and then through that is when Igot into disco because I was like,
actually I like the storytelling and where'sthat sample from? And I would start
going back in time. So Ikind of came to it in my early
twenties. Really, I just lovelike I'm having a mental picture of the
pr person stopping the interview mid interviewand going, hey, you really need
to stop saying I know, Imean, what a numpty. But I
(08:56):
think I was trying to say ina positive way, like I don't like
dance music and I like this song. But I realized it was probably wasn't
reading that way. Well, thankgod you like it now. Finally,
in honor of murder on the dancefloor, what's the first thing to kill
your groove? Oh? Bad lighting? I think probably on the dance floor
(09:20):
you want to be able to getlost in it a bit. You don't
want to be able to see everythinglike really clearly. So yeah, I
think bad lighting is probably my firstnine nine. You need the right mood.
Absolutely. Well, let's talk aboutthis smash, and before we talk
about the origins of it, theresurgence is just so crazy as an artist,
(09:43):
what is it like for a songof yours that's twenty plus years old.
To now have so much success,well, I think in some ways
i'm still, you know, acknowledgingall of that because it's been such a
wind and so crazy and so magical, but also, as you know,
made my world spin a little bit, and mainly it's been extraordinary fun.
(10:09):
And I'm so glad I'm such goodfriends with Murder a Dancer, because I
really am. It's it's like areally good friend of mine taking me away
for another unexpected like you know,honeymoon or something. Because I started singing
it back then, but I haven'tstopped singing it. I sing it all
the time. It's got lots ofhappy memories for me. I still work
with a lot of the same people, so a lot of the relationships that
(10:31):
were forged around that time in mycareer are still alive and well. So
there's lots of proud aunties and unclesof Murder and Dancer as well as me.
But I love what I do andI'm always One of the things I've
always loved about music is the factthat sometimes things happen that are completely unplanned,
and you've just got to grab yoursurfboard and ride the wave really so
(10:52):
here I am trying not to toppleoff it and having a lot of fun,
and I hope it's not too loudfor you. By the way,
they started sound checking and it's like, you're good. Sorry. It's just
so crazy that we're in a timewhere old songs are having resurgences and sometimes
are even more popular now than theywere when they were originally put out.
(11:16):
I know, isn't that insane?Like what does that teach you about music?
I don't really know. It's like, I suppose the way that people
access music now is like the recordshop is open twenty four hours a day
and everything's in stock, so searchfor the song that suits your mood.
But also it just shows you thatI don't know, sometimes there's just something
in the ether, and I trynot to overanalyze stuff mainly, but just
(11:39):
do things that make me feel good, and then you can kind of have
an adventure with all of it.Really take us through this adventure with Saltburn
and how it happened, and thepoint that you realize and said to yourself,
(12:03):
holy crap, my song is goingviral again. How did this all
happen? So I was approached aboutthe song being in Sulburn, probably about
a year and a bit ago,and I didn't have much information except for
the writer and director being Emerald Fennel, and I knew who she was and
I knew she was talented, soI was like, great, and I
felt flattered she'd approached me. Andit said they wanted to use all of
(12:24):
the song and someone be dancing withnone of their clothes and that was and
I was like, count me in. That sounds like fun. I'm down
for that. But then beyond that, I didn't really I sort of forgot
about it for a little while becausesometimes things ask you for permission and then
you know, they changed their mindor whatever, or it doesn't make the
(12:46):
edit. So then I went tosee a screening of it, and I
went with my mom, my eldestson, and my husband, and so
we had that bonding experience and itwas definitely quite challenging, but we did
all really enjoy it. And Iremember saying to Richard, my husband,
oh, that the film's brilliant,and he said, oh, it is,
(13:07):
but it's you know, it's quiteon the left field, so maybe
some people it won't be for everyone. So it was really when the film
started really picking up pace and overChristmas, when like everybody else, I
was like in my pajamas and athome with the family. I could see
something happening with the song, youknow, on tiktook and on socials,
and I was like, Oh,I think maybe this is something a little
(13:31):
bit extraordinary here. And it wasjust insane because I was sat at home.
Normally, when a song was doingsomething, it's because it's a new
single or you're promoting something, butthis was just doing something all by itself.
And yeah, it was extraordinary.That is magic. That is so
incredible. Let's talk about the originof this song. You know, I
(13:52):
don't even know how it popped up. It just popped up as a suggestion
to me. And I learned thatit was originally written by the lead singer
of New Radicals and it was almosttheir song. How did it make it
to you? Greg says that now, I mean, that's I don't know.
I suppose he would know better thanme about that aspect. I mean,
Greg, I knew him as agreat songwriter. I was writing my
(14:13):
first album and he was at thattime, so we'd had a big hit
with you Get What You Give,and then he had this demo of basically
the bones of what Merger on thedance Well became. So it was a
verse a bridge chorus, and itwas a demo just him with a guitar,
few little flourishes, just an indication, and he very generously said,
(14:35):
if you can finish this off,it's yours. So I went into the
studio recorded some ideas and then weworked on it together to finish it.
And yeah, we're like, it'sproud Mum and dad really And the nice
thing is we speak all the time. Greg and I. We've kept in
touch over the years, and he'salways been like such a cheerleader. He's
a very enthusiastic music fan, butalso interesting and you know artists. And
(15:01):
it was only recently that yeah,he said it was actually a song that
he thought about for new radicals,but I think he thought that he had
all his energy until you get whatYou Give, which is obviously such a
brilliant, brilliant song. Absolutely,now, well that ends right. Something
else that was in the blog,and I don't know if this is the
case or not, but is ittrue that you guys were told not to
do the repeating in the song theI know, I know, I know,
(15:22):
I know. I think I readlike a quote that said that he
was told not to do that bythe record label. Oh, I don't
know. Actually, I mean,I know, I don't know. That's
not why. I think. Bythe time it got to me, it
was very much kind of this thingthat was sort of looking for a home,
I think, so I didn't haveany guidelines at all. And in
fact, when I finished the songand Greg rang me, I thought he
(15:46):
didn't like quite time. He wasjust being a bit charismatic, because he
phoned me up and he went,Sophie, you better not steal the move,
Sophie, and I was like,oh, no, he hates it.
He hates it. But actually wenot only did he like it,
but we ended up writing together alot after that. So we did a
lot of my singles together. AndI don't remember there being any rules about
(16:07):
I know, I know, Iknow, so slicky. Oh it absolutely
is, but it must have beenbefore it got to you. But congratulations
on the success of this song.Now I got to ask, it's not
topical, but just for myself,how did not giving up on love come
together with armin? Oh? Sucha happy thing. So my fourth album,
Make a Scene is my most dancingone I've ever done. So is
(16:29):
Yeah, Armin was on that,as you said, Bob Sinclair, Calvin
Harris, and so I was workingwith these amazing Australian DJs called the Nervo
Twins who you absolute living exactly liveand Mim and I went into the studio
with them, and what I foundreally interesting about working with Armin is that
actually Mim Live and I wrote thetop line to Not Giving Up over a
completely different track. So we hadthis very dark sounding, dramatic trance track.
(16:56):
We wrote the top line and thenarmand took it away and then changed
the chords and actually made it alot more beautiful and tender. And I
was really impressed with him that hedid that, because that's really hard to
do that, to sort of takea song and then dismantle it and then
recreate something. And then I endedup singing it a couple of times as
part of his show, which isinsane because it's like twenty five thousand people
(17:18):
and then I really know, likeI we just pop up out of the
stage and sing with him. Butyeah, he's a really lovely man and
really knows his stuff like the sonicsonthat the production is really on point.
He's very clever. Yeah, Imean that song is an absolute classic.
Congratulations on that, Congratulations on Murderon the dance Floor. Congratulations on your
(17:41):
world tour that you're on right now. That is so incredible. We knew
right, that is so amazing.Sophie Ellis Bexter, Thank you so much
for your time with us on America'sDance thirty. My absolute pleasure and I
like dance music now. By theway, Dance thirties counting down the biggest
(18:02):
dance songs in the country America isDance thirty.
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