Sophie Ellis-Bextor is set to return with a bang after assembling a heavy-hitting line-up of collaborators as she works on new music.
The British pop icon returned to the global charts earlier this year after her classic hit, Murder On The Dancefloor, featured on the soundtrack to ‘Saltburn’, with the success leading to a US tour and a deal with former label Universal.
And she’s wasted no time in getting back in the studio and crafting the follow-up to 2023’s Top 10 LP, ‘HANA‘, which is set to feature some of pop’s biggest and most-successful songwriters and producers.
The Get Over You star’s husband, Richard Jones, previously confirmed Sophie had reunited with Cathy Dennis (Catch You) and Richard X (Starlight) on the new record, with the singer herself revealing she’s also been in the studio with frequent collaborator Ed Harcourt and disco legend Nile Rodgers.
“I’ve been songwriting. I’ve been in the studio with Ed Harcourt and Nile Rodgers,” she said (via The Sun’s Bizarre column). “That was actually really fun. Would you believe it? We’ve done something kind of funky. I do like it. I like it a lot.”
Meanwhile, Richard ‘Biff’ Stannard (Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer), Bittersweet) also revealed he’s been drafted in for the project in a post on his Instagram Stories, showing himself and Sophie in the studio with singer-songwriter and producer Shura and Duck, who has worked on hits for Jessie Ware, Kylie Minogue and others.
On the new deal, insiders said: “Sophie has become a global star again. Universal, her old record label, have snapped her up and she will be releasing new music later in the year.
“She is likely to be a bigger star than she was back in the day. It has come out of nowhere for Sophie and she is thrilled and really excited.”
Sophie herself added: “It’s just an extraordinary thing and it’s quite hard to get my head around. It’s feeling a bit more real now, but I’m trying my best to just enjoy it.”
