That MEGA Sophie Ellis-Bextor post (Part One)

Sorry for the complete lack of updates you guys, i know some of you may have already got all the news from other sources. And some of you have been very loyal, thank you for keeping Sophierazzi up-to-date even in my absence. Here's one post - everything that you missed....

SHOPAHOLIC SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR
ORIGINAL POST: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/entertainment/2010-04/30/content_9797637.htm

The 'Bittersweet' singer can't resist hitting the high street to get her hands on the latest trends, but is never satisfied with her purchases.

She said: "I think I'm a shopaholic - I can't seem to stop buying clothes and shoes! I always feel that if I just buy one extra item then suddenly my wardrobe will be complete and I'll be covered for every eventuality."

Although she is a great shopper, Sophie admits it's not a real skill and she is envious of people who have multiple talents.

She added to Britain's OK! magazine: "I'm quite envious of people who are really good at something, like being able to draw amazingly or speak another language and are happy to keep quiet about it. I don't really have too many talents, so if I have something that I'm even half decent at - like 'guess the intro' or cooking - I'm likely to tell people straight away, I'm pathetic like that!"

SOPHIE ELLIS BEXTOR'S AGE CONCERN
ORIGINAL POST: http://www.exposay.com/v/37447/sophie-ellisbextors-age-concern

Sophie Ellis-Bextor feels old.
The 31-year-old pop star - who shot to fame aged 15 as a member of indie group Theaudience - is always made aware of her advancing years when she meets her teenage fans, but insists it doesn't upset her too much.

Sophie - who has two children, Sonny, five, and 14-month-old Kit Valentine, with her husband, The Feeling guitarist Richard Jones - said: "When I talk to teenagers I do feel older. Richard and I both feel like we've done so much growing up since we've been together. But there are a lot of perks to getting older."

Despite getting older, the 'Bittersweet' singer insists she feels more confident now she is in her thirties than a decade ago.

She added: "It's hard to feel comfortable in your own skin when you're younger. I think you get that knowledge when you've had highs and lows - stuff that only comes with getting older."

SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR - NO LONGER AN UGLY DUCKLING
ORIGINAL POST: http://www.tmnnews.co.uk/showbiz/sophie-ellis-bextor-no-longer-an-ugly-duckling/

It’s hard to believe that the beautiful singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor has not always had such complimentary things said about her striking looks. It’s not just the people on the streets that have made derogatory remarks. High profile celebrities such as Robbie Williams and Frank Skinner have also made nasty comments. The laid back stunner refuses to let it bother her however.

From an early age Sophie had to contend with spitefulness regarding her looks. She remembers some children at her infant’s school even forming an Anti-Sophie club. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said, “One time they pelted me with coins. It was pure jealousy, because my mum was on TV.” Although the bullying was unpleasant and uncalled for, she also says how rumours of her being nicknamed ‘Rhombus-Face’ at school are completely un-true."

The thirty-one year old never let it stop her from going forward in her career or thriving in her private life. Her debut solo album, Read My Lips spawned four top twenty hits and her new album, Straight To The Heart is due for release later this year. Now happily married to the bassist of The Feeling Richard Jones and with two healthy sons, Miss Ellis-Bextor is not looking back.

“Ultimately I don’t care if people think I look a bit odd. All my favourite female pop stars – Debbie Harry, PJ Harvey, Bjork – are unconventional-looking and slightly bonkers.”

The news which shocked me and a couple of PopJustice readers
STRAIGHT TO THE HEART MIGHT GET AN EARLY RELEASE IN AUSTRALIA
ORIGINAL POST: http://auspop.blogspot.com/2010/05/incoming-sophie-ellis-bextor.html

We've had quite a number of people asking us when Sophie Ellis-Bextor's new material will be getting an Australian release. We can confirm that as of late today, Soph's new album 'Straight To The Heart' has now appeared on Universal Music's Aussie release schedule. But the strange thing is - it's way before the UK's official release date of August 02, so things could quite possibly be delayed in the weeks ahead. But at this stage (and not accounting for said delays), we're set to see it in the shops on June 11.
It's rumoured to include a track co-written by Melbourne's Nervo sisters called 'Not Giving Up on Love'.

SOON YOU CAN FEEL LIKE A BIT OF A DINOSAUR (load of mistakes)
ORIGINAL POST: http://news.pinkpaper.com/Feature.aspx?id=1862

Hello Sophie, how are you?
I'm alright thanks, how are you?

Not bad, not bad. Are you on a whirlwind tour of promotion?
I'm home today. I was doing the album chart show yesterday, it was a weird day but today I'm panicking about what to get for a birthday because we have a lot of birthdays in April.

Really?
Yeah I better get on it, yeah…

So, back with a new album, why have you forsaken the gays for so long?
I'm not one of those people who can turn around with a new album quickly, I seem to have taken a good 18 months of waiting but I think it's worth it and it's going to make a difference to the new album. I don't know how people can do it any quicker really. Maybe they're better than me - I don't know.

So first of all – Lips, Hip, Trip – you've broken the chain with this album title?
Oh, I know. It's funny – people have been worried about that. I've also been annoyed because apparently, I didn't realise it initially but it went 'R,S,T' the album title so I really should have had a 'U' this time. I should have been smarter. But I completely got all of that. It's really cause the song on the new album called Under Your Touch and I first called it Under Your Touch. That would be in keeping with with the alphabetical album titles. But I'm sorry I broke the chain.

The new album is Straight From The Heart, is that right?
Yes – Straight TO The Heart. There's a song on the album called Cut Straight To The Heart which I did with Ed Harcourt and I thought that's what music should do really, just effect you there, especially good pop music. It's supposed to be urgent. At least I'm keeping my thing in body parts – lips and hips and now I'm on heart. Maybe I'm starting a new tradition.

So what sound would you say this has taken from Trip, how has it moved on?
It's definitely more dancey, a bit more electro a bit more contemporary. I think when I did Trip some of the dancey sounds I was trying to make were more like a disco sound and I think this time it's more electro dance than disco really.

Do you think that comes from hanging around with people like Calivin Harris and the Freemasons?
Definitely. I think it's just also just what's happening with music. There's a lot of that stuff on the radio that's got a lot of keyboards and beats, you know, even previously pretty indie bands are doing that sort of sound so I think that you can't help but be affected by the revolution of music.

So who else have you worked with on this new album?
I've worked with Ian from the Sneaker Pimps, I've worked with Richard X. I've worked with pop-writers with people like Cathy Denis and Hannah Worthington. I did a track with a D-J called Armin Van Beuren so we're quite different.

Is the Junior Caldera song (Just Can’t Fight This Feeling) on the album?
I don't know exactly how we're gonna do that – it's on his album. It's gonna be involved somewhere. It's funny because, in the olden days you'd bring your record out and it was quite a straightforward thing. But now, because you have sites like iTunes you can bring your record out in variations. The bulk of 12 songs will be the same everywhere.

I love how you say 'olden days'.
I know but things change so quickly. Soon you can feel like a bit of a dinosaur. Even things like Top of the Pops and CDUK – that sort of stuff was all around when I started and now it's all gone.

Do you miss it?
Yeah. I miss having one show that you knew would have put on your performance and re-create part of your video or more dancers and you'd have to a bit more for that. And it's a shame to not have some of that occasion. Everything's spread a little more thin so you have to apply the same use across the board and have as many people's trust really.

Are you planning on touring with this album?
Yeah, I think it's long overdue. I'd like to tour in the autumn - I love touring in the Autumn. I haven't done a tour since my first record. But don't tell anybody, that sounds terrible. I had a lot of supporters – Take That for their tour and I did 34 dates.

Talking about feeling like a dinosaur - I remember the last tour you did and I had one of those sleeveless t-shirts with the little lips saying 'Read My Lips'…
Oh yeah, I had a lot of merchandise. We definitely need to bring that out again.

Have you decided on the tracks on the album? Because what I wanted to do was go through them and ask you to describe what each one is…
Yep. Well we've got the single Heartbreak and that one was with the Freemasons and that one is kind of theatrical. I was playing a bit of a diva and that was quite fun. It's one of those things where you've got to take on an a slight alter-ego – you've got to be quite the opposite and it's an alteration when somethings intoxicated you and you can't really do anything about it. When you look at it that way it sounds much more tender It's really quite romantic.

Then there's the track with Calvin Harris which is called Off and On and it was originally written with Roisin Murphy but for some reason it didn't fit and I'm a bit squeemish about taking on things that I didn’t write. But I think you've always got to think about that you can bring something to it and that was one of those examples when I thought 'Yeah I don't think we're doing that'. But working with Cathy was brilliant I'm a big fan of her. And there's another song that I did with Cathy called Revolution which is one of my more passionate songs – it will be a single it has kind of a different sound to it. Not exactly in the verses but it is sort of quite aggressive. I did it with Greg Hurston who is a big producer in LA.

I love Cathy Denis – I don't think I've ever not loved something she's written.
Yeah I know she's really, really, really, really good. She does things that you don't think of doing like I reference Murder On The Dancefloor. That's just something that would never have occurred to me because I think I'm too British. Cathy's from Norwich so she's British too but she's good at thinking on a different tangent and I like collaborating with people because they push you to do things that you wouldn't normally have done.

I did a song called Starlight with Richard X and Hannah Worthington and that song is one of my favourites. I love it in pop music when it's got a sort of wistful sadness, like Georgio is really good at that. This song as definitely got that feel. It takes you off to a different place for a minute.

I did another song with Hannah and Richard called Magic which is another love song and when I do songs I always get this image in my head and with this it sound a bit like I'm galloping somewhere.

I've got a couple of slower numbers – one is called Synchronised which is about how you want to get back with a lover but you probably won't ever do it that's got that sadness too. It's actually really hard to write a happy song. I've tried it on many occasions and you do get it but it's that sadness and heartache and loss of love that have this built in interest I suppose.

Some of the greatest pop songs ever written have been quite poppy but they're really, really miserable.
Yeah completely. Especially the ones where you don't think they're going to be miserable at first and then they turn out to be. Those are brilliant aren't they? And you get people picking them for their first dance at weddings and you think 'Oh, you haven't really listened to the verse....' Like Every Breath You Take or something.

I love this little one called Cut Straight To The Heart and that was with Ed Hardcourt. I don't know if you're familiar with his work, a really talented singer and writer. He's one of those really consistent guys who you puts people like me to shame cause he can do it all – he'll play the piano and the guitar and does it really well but makes this magic sound and he's one of the best lyricists I've ever worked with. I know a lot of people who are good with melody – that's one of my strong points. But lyrics, it's just really tough to get a lyric, especially to do exactly what you want it to. But he is really really good a that.

There's also a song called Dial My Number, that's about a stalker, a text stalker. I've never replied to them but they send me these texts sending me jokes, sending me lyrics. He just wanted to be my friend, not to be particularly sinister, but kind of annoying. So it starts off with the feeling that someone might have your number but it doesn't mean that somethings gonna happen.

Isn't that a bit scary?
Nah...it's only texting. If it was somebody saying "I know where you live" that would be different but it's harmless. It's just a bit annoying. But it's my own fault because I've had the same number for about eight years. But every once in a while it'll be like half midnight or one am and someone will ring and I'm not good at recognising phone numbers and if I'm foolish enough to answer it, it sounds like people at parties going “ahahahahaha” you know, pretty drunk. It's really annoying.

I've seen people doing that at parties to other people and I've just thought, ‘stop being a twat’.
Yeah, it is really annoying. Which brings me on to another song with a weird subject matter which is Homewrecker. It's about girls who flirt with your boyfriend right under your nose which is very annoying. And sometimes they're just really obvlivious and just happy to get the attention that they don't really realise that they've crossed the line and he'll go 'Yeah but she's just a good friend' Yeah but I saw the way she laughed at your jokes and I saw the way that she put her hand on your arm when she was telling a story and it's not on.

Is that something that's happened to you?
I think everybody's had that happen with girls and you think 'Why are you doing that, I'm right here' but you get ‘girls girls’ and then you get girls who prefer the company of men and I think women can spot those girls a mile off and men can't, it's really strange. It might even be someone you know and you just think that they're obviously not a ‘girls girl’. It's something in the eyes I think.

Then there's a song called Under Your Touch, which is quite saucy really. It's just about fancying someone which is always a good subject matter.

And I've written a song – do you know Metronomy? Well there's a guy, Joe, who's part of Metronomy and I did a song with him called Scene and actually, Scene was a very instrumental track and it really set the tone quite early on it was quite quirky and different it just made me think that maybe I've got to try some new stuff here to push me a bit and it was a really important track to write. (She goes through the songs on her computer) Revolution, Heartbreak, Off and On, Scene, Starlight, Bittersweet, Cut Through The Heart, Under Your Touch, Synchronised, Dial My Number, Homewrecker and Magic.

So you've done the shoot for the album cover?
Yeah, I actually get to choose my favorites today.

And is it fabulous?
It will be – the company I work with have done all my album covers and they've got some good ideas. My favorite shot at the moment is one where you can't really see my face. It's like a profile shot where I'm flinging my hair around and I like the way it looks.

So the second single is probably due...
July. That will be Off and On or Revolution.

Is there anything else that's going to pop up – any b-sides or bonus unreleased tracks?
I don't really get a chance to do that thing cause we didn't really do that the first time and there's probably a good reason for it. So no. I think everything has its moment and then you should move on, but if you didn't do it the first time then there's probably a good reason.