Sophie's album is called "Make A Scene", again

Sophie updated us on her Twitter and FB Page recently.

on Twitter
morning all and back to work today. album mastered. let's get on with you, 2011.

on FaceBook
thank you to all who came to the tour. i have been reading your comments and they are truly heartwarming. the album 'Make a Scene' has been mastered. can't wait for you all to hear it. NOT LONG NOW.......! thank you for being so patient. x

Can't wait for more details. Keep your eyes open, the whells are finally in motion!

Mewbox caught up with Sophie

You can listen to the interview on the Mewbox Site - http://www.mewbox.com/blog/sophie-ellis-bextor-mewbox-interview/

Sophie talks about:
1. Metronomy Track: quirky and leftfield. Joe and she have a mutual friend and that's how the collabration came about.
2. Wants to work with: Aha, Arcade Fire (she had also mentioned Daft Punk and Kings Of Leon in the past)
3. Tours with TT & PSB
4. She wants us to reward us for our patience by touring

thanks for the heads-up Danny.

Track by track: Straight To The Heart - Sophie's 4th record

(thanks to Lee B for scanning the mag)

Track by Track: Straight To The Heart

From Gay Times Maganize

Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer - This one was with the Freemasons. I think it's quite a theatrical love song really. I was playing a bit of a diva but it's quite fun. It's one of those things where you've got to take on a slight alter-ego.

Bittersweet - It's a genuine raw emotion when something's intoxicated you and you can't really do anything about it. When we've been doing it acoustically it's actually quite romantic. When it's got all the bells and whistles it sounds a bit more saucy.

Off And On - A track with Calvin Harris, it was originally written with Roisin Murphy for her record but for one reason or another she felt it didn't fit. Ordinarily I’m a bit squeamish about taking on songs that I didn't write. But I think you've always got to think that you can bring something to it.

Revolution - Working with Cathy Dennis was brilliant, I'm a big fan of hers. It's probably one of my tougher songs. It will be a single, it has a different sound to it. I don't know if I rap exactly in the verses but it's quite sort of aggressive and monotone there. It's with this guy called Greg Kurstin who's a really good producer in LA and Cathy does things that you don't think of doing, like in this song I name check 'Murder On The Dancefloor'

Starlight - I did this with Richard X and Hannah Robinson and it's one of my favourites. I love it in pop music when it's got a soft of wistful sadness like Giorgio Moroder's always really good at that. This song has definitely got that feel.

Magic - Again with Hannah and Richard, and another love song. Sometimes when I'm writing songs I get imagines in my head and with this one I'm always riding a horse, it sounds a bit like I'm galloping somewhere. In the video I've got to do it on horseback.

Synchronised - One of a couple of slower numbers which is about trying to get back in tune with a lover you but you probably won't ever do it, so that's got sadness too. I'm always drawn to sad things. It’s actually really hard to write a happy song I find. I have tried it on many occasions and you do achieve it sometimes but it's actually that sadness and heartache and unrequited love have got built-in interest I suppose, a bit more depth.

Cut Straight To The Heart - Another slow one, I did this with the lovely Ed Harcourt, a really talented singer/songwriter. This is a really melodic song. He's one of the best lyricists I've ever worked with. I know a lot of people who are good with melody, I think that's one of my strong points. But lyrics, it's just really tough to get a lyric that does exactly what you want it to but he's really good at that.

Dial My Number - A song about a text stalker that I have. I've never replied to them but they send me these texts, sending me jokes, sending me my lyrics. Not particularly sinister, but kind of annoying. So it started off as an idea of a song about someone that you're saying "you might have my number but it doesn't mean that anything's gonna happen, so don't get your hopes up."

Homewrecker - Another song with a weird subject matter - you can probably guess what Homewrecker's about! (laughs) It's about girls who flirt with your boyfriend right under your nose which is very annoying. And sometimes they're really just oblivious, they're just so happy to have the attention that they don't really realise that they've crossed the line and they'll go "Yeah but she's just a good friend" and you're like "Yeah but I saw the way she laughed at your jokes and I saw the way she put her hand on your arm when she was telling a story and it's not on". Not on!

Under Your Touch - A song which is quite a saucy love song really. It's just about fancying someone, which is always a good subject matter.

Scene - I did this one with Joe from Metronomy. Actually, Scene was a very instrumental track and it really set the tone. It was written quite early on. It was quite quirky and different and it's just made me think that maybe I've got to try some new stuff here, try something just a bit to push me a bit I suppose so it was a really important track to write.

(I know Not Giving Up On Love isn't mentioned here, but Sophie says it's on the album. No reason to worry. Sophie said this about the song in a radio interview - "Boom – Boom – Boom – Boom - Boom - like fairground music. I mean that in a good way. I worked with a trance DJ called Armin van Buuren. I am pleased with that one. It sounds like authentic trance. I would never have thought in a million years I would do a trance record. But like everything I do it’s all about melody and song, so it just happens to be a trance record.")

Exclusive Chat with Sophie - Daily Record (youtube)

Watch Here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6S1zgSjBl8
1. Album out in July... maybe the second single is going to co-incide with the album's release. Well, time will tell.
2. She changed the album title after having a glass of wine with Richard. She named the album after a line from a song she wrote with Ed Harcourt (which i guessed long back) called "Cut Thru' The Heart". The song is going to be on the album, and it's produced by Dimitri (according to ASCAP). Now this changes everything. I'll have to re-work my possible tracklist.
3. And she confirmed "Dial My Number" the stalker song by Liam Howe (again, i guessed that long back)

So far Dimitri/Harcourt, Freemasons/Biffco, Liam Howe, Calvin Harris/Cathy, Richard X/Hannah, Metronomy/Future Cut, Armin Van Buuren/Nervo Sisters and Greg Kurstin have been confirmed by Sophie herself. The other possible collaborators include Christopher Rojas and Fred Ball.

So the tracks that will be on the album are:
Dimitri/Harcourt - Cut Thru' The Heart
Freemasons/Biffco - Bittersweet & Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer
Liam Howe - Dial My Number
Calvin/Cathy - Off & On
Richard X/Hannah - Starlight
Metronomy/Future Cut - Make A Scene
Armin/Nervo - Not Giving Up On Love
Greg Kurstin - (unknown)

Possible inclusions:
Fred Ball - Synchronised
Christopher Rojas - Sophia Loren
(unknown) - Revolution

Bittersweet - The review

Put together Blue Monday '88 (by New Order), Strangelove (by Depeche Mode), Sweet Dreams (by Eurythmics), One Word (by Kelly Osbourne) and The One (by Kylie Minogue), mix those with Sophie's bittersweet vocals and what you get is...well..."Bittersweet"

Bittersweet, which is first single from her fourth album recently titled Straight To The Heart, is produced by the Freemasons & Biffco and co written with them and Hannah Robinson. The nearly-9-minutes long orgasmic mix by the Freemasons, which leaked a couple of days ago, boasted of the Eurythmics meets Depeche Mode "oh-holy-shit-mother-of-all-riffs" all through the mix, with hints of New Order on drum snares. Everyone raved about how good the mix was and how it blew them away, but little did they know that there was more to come... The Radio Edit of the song which recently hit youtube surpasses the Freemasons Extended Mix in almost every way possible. Almost, yes.

The arresting riff, which got a usual clubber to go "oh fuck hell yeah" at it's premiere, is safely hidden under the verses of the Radio Edit? Why they chose to overshadow that is a mystery to me. But the Radio Edit is far more beefy - in that it has lots of lush strings and synth, and layers of sounds that completely make up for the lack of the riff. But wait, there's more. The 80's style disco anthem, drawing influences from some of the recent hits by K. Minogue and K. Osbourne, oozes elegance and melody in a gentle yet strong manner. The lyrics and the delivery are perfect, as usual, with Sophie experimenting her part-silk-cushion-part-scorched-lizard vocals - elongated words, high pitched "ooohs", meandering melody, whispers (oh my god!)...and just when you think you have heard it all, the feline siren comes back mewing "so here i am". DigitalSpy rightly calls this moment as three seconds of pure pop loveliness. Indeed!

If you haven't already wet your pants, then try this, but i warn you - you may get insanely addicted!
Bittersweet (Radio Edit) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvGElFmZYI
Bittersweet (Freemasons Extended Mix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiOqkkv8tT4
Bittersweet (Jodie Harsh Remix) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT_O6c-EDDE

Sophierazzi gives a thumbs up to the Freemasons and Biffco, and salutes Sophie, the rightful pop Goddess.
Bittersweet (Radio Edit)- 10(0000)/10
Bittersweet (Freemasons Extended Mix) - 9.9999999/10
Bittersweet (Jodie Harsh Mix) - 7/10

P.S. - People, please don't forget she also has a single with Junior Caldera which is out; the video will premeire soon. Keep your eyes peeled. Love, Kx.

Revolution - another song title.

Yay! JP (from the official forum) is back, and he posted this:
"The new album is going to be HUGE!!! There are so many strong tracks it is untrue!! Bittersweet is a surefire disco stomper....it will be massive! 'Revolution' has to be a single, I cannot write in words how much I love this track!! 2010 is going to be a big one!! JPx"
Revoltion was a title that Dave H (from the official forum, again) had mentioned a couple of months ago.
I just love how everyone says "Bittersweet will be massive". I just can't stop listening to the live recording on youtube. *fingers crossed that the rest of the album is as good as that*

More about the album

"Your love's bittersweet bittersweet oh-uh-ooh"
Seems like we're going to get an amazing hook for the song! kmitalian from PopJustice generously donated a recording of the Freemasons mix of Bittersweet. (You will find the youtube link in my previous post)

And a couple of hours ago, Digital Spy posted an inerview with Sophie on their website:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a204793/ellis-bextor-reveals-new-album-title.html
Thank you DS for asking the right questions, something that the official website should have done. Anyway.

Highlights of the interview:
1. The video will be shot next week, in London with Chris Sweeny is the producer again. Sophie has the concept of the video, but she won't disclose anything right away.
2. Sophie's quote on Bittersweet - "It's another song I did with the Freemasons. It's very pop-dance. I think the chorus sounds a little bit like it's from a musical - it's quite sort of dramatic and melodic, and a bit meandering in a good way."
3. The strategy might be 2 singles and the album sometime in Autumn. The album is called Make A Scene - being comfortable with your own skin. There may be 12 tracks, sequencing yet to be done.
4. Confirmed producers so far - Metronomy, Armin Van Buuren, Sneaker Pimps, Richard X, Calvin Harris and Freemasons confirmed till now.


Richard X - Starlight (or Magic, but that was recorded during the GH sessions, so i doubt it)
Metronomy - Scene
Freemasons - Bittersweet and Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)
Calvin Harris - Off & On (I'm not too sure if Calling It Love will be on the album)
Sneaker Pimps - Dial My Number (it has to be this, the Stalker song)
Armin Van Buuren - Not Giving Up On Love

So.. that is, roughly, 7 songs

I know Dimitri is going to be on the album. (I hope its "Sleepwalking". That title is just awesome!). I also hope Jim Elliott's track makes it (Whispers On The Street).

Official Catch-Up and some other news

Third installment from SEB.net:

So, we asked your Twitter followers for some questions for you. One of them said, "Oh, so this is a fake Twitter, f***ing liars".
What?! So, he thinks all the tweets haven't been me? Actually, my brother got a bit annoyed with me because when I started Twitter, it was just after I'd had Kit and I was in that hormonal bubble when you've just had a baby and I kept on putting tweets up like "I'm now breastfeeding on Brighton pier". My brother made me stop doing that. So, if I had a fake me, I'd really like to think they'd have a little bit more discretion and perhaps be a little bit more pop. So take that Mr Cynic!

Other followers have asked whether you'll be playing live in America, Moscow, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa or Glasgow. Any plans?
Well, yeah, I'd love to. I do make this promise now that I will never, ever, ever put on a tour and then not perform the tour! There's always so many politics to that stuff, but I understand from a fans' point of view that it just looks like you can't be bothered. But I would love to play in all those places and it's brilliant that all those people have asked in such a short time. I have fans in far-flung places! I've still got a real excitement about the fact that your music can go out on these journeys that you're never going to go on. I love that.

An intelligent question from @davidlimonline - "how critical is the success of this upcoming album for your career? R U feeling the pressure & do you have a contingency plan?"
Ooh, that is an intelligent question. I would say the least critical out of everything, actually. Because I kind of feel like I do what I do now. Although that being said, you obviously want it to do well and I'm really pleased with it. But I don't feel as much pressure, because I feel like I'm here now, y'know? I feel like I'll be able to put out another album after this, no matter what.


A little bit about the track Scene:

It has been confirmed that the track Sophie Ellis Bextor recorded with Darren Lewis and Tunde Babalola of Future Cut is entitled “Scene.” The Metronomy-penned song is slotted for inclusion on the artist’s upcoming as-yet-untitled 4th album on Fascination / Polydor Records.
Future Cut Productions are also known for their work with Lily Allen (“Smile”), Ava Leigh (“Mad About the Boy”), Laura Izibor (“Shine”), Nicole Scherzinger (“What’s Keeping You”), Shakira (“Gypsy”), Rihanna (“Mad House”) and Livvi Franc (“Hummingbird”).
SOURCE: http://monicamania.blogdrive.com/archive/4667.html
Thanks to Eden for the heads-up!

And in other news, Alexander McQueen committed suicide on the 11th of this month. Sophie commented on his death saying "It’s very shocking. It’s sad when anyone feels that alone but particularly someone who is so talented and seemingly has so much to live for.”
RIP Alexander McQueen
SOURCE: Daily Star

HELLO! mag interview, Fascination's tweet, Bloodshy & Avant, release date and more

Fascination recently tweeted this:

"The Freemasons remixes of the new Sophie single - Bitter Sweet - are beyond brilliant! Release date is April 26."

So the good news is that we have a release date. Sophie is filming the video on the 17th of this month. Maybe the song hits the radio after that, followed by the video premiere in March.

Also, a recent article on Music Fascination confirms a list of collaborators for this album, and Bloodshy & Avant are in it too! Excited? - Read here

Thanks to Eden for the heads-up.

And, HELLO! magazine caught up with Sophie at New Orleans.

It's a city famous for food and music, so it's no wonder singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor looks at home when HELLO! catches up with her in New Orleans. "My family, good music and really good food are what's important to me", says the 30-year-old pop star, who lives in London with her bassist husband Richard Jones of the band The Feeling and their songs Sonny, five and Kit, nearly one. Having shot to fame a decade ago when she sang on the dance classic Groovejet, Sophie's first three albums were hits around the world while her fourth - as yet untitled - is due out soon, as she enjoys the Big Easy, Sophie talks hangovers, hauntings and happiness.

So, Sophie, what do you make of New Orleans?

It's an incredible city! Southern Comfort flew me out here and the atmosphere's just amazing. There's music everywhere; as we were taking these photos, some old boys just started dancing in the street outside. It's supposedly the most haunted place in America and you can definitely feel it in the air. We took a ghost tour, but fortunately we didn't come face to face with any unnerving otherworldliness. It was fun though.

Thanks to Sophie-Online for the pictures.

(Sophie is the brand ambassador for Southern Comfort)

Do you get out much back home in London?

Absolutely! My husband and I are both musicians, so we're pretty nocturnal creatures and we do spend a lot of time out and about once the kids are tucked up in bed. We both DJ too, so we definitely inhabit this whole other world once the children are in bed.

What's your tipple?

If it's just a quiet drink after work I like white wine, but if it's more of a party night you can't beat mojito to get you revved up.

Do you ever overindulge?

Very rarely. I'm a bit obsessed with keeping in control and I don't like getting hangovers, so I'm quite a responsible drinker. Even people who've known me for years, way before I had kids, haven't seen me get too out of it.

What's your favourite bar snack?

I like those little green chilli peppers, eaten whole and fried, with a bit of salt and edamame, with an ice-cold beer.

Your songs were born prematurely after you developed pre-eclampsia and Kit spent the first five weeks of his life in hospital. How is he now?

He's lovely and healthy and happy and it's all fine now. Having two kinds means life's a bit more chaotic but it's where we always hoped to find ourselves.

Are you planning any more?

I like the idea of more, but for the time being, I'm just focusing on work and the new album. I've been working with a lot of different dance DJs including Calvin Harris and the Freemasons, so it's definitely the most "dancey" album I've ever made.

Was it more of a creative challenge, producing a new album with such a young baby in tow?

It's actually been all right. Making music doesn't really feel like a day job and in fact the new song I've done with the Freemasons was written at home while I was looking after Kit, in between feeds, so it was quite a relaxed process.

Are the boys demonstrating any musical inclinations yet?

Kit is just responding like most babies do, I guess, but Sonny is pretty into music. He loves dancing around and he's already talking about being a drummer and is partial to a bit of Metallica.

You turned 30 last April. How does it feel to kiss goodbye to your twenties?

So far, I've found getting older to be a good thing, as you feel more settled in your skin. I certainly wouldn't want to go back and be 18 again.

Have you still got a passion for fashion?

Of course. I've got two kids but I'm not dead. People always assume that when you have babies, you suddenly don't want to get dressed up anymore, but I'm still a popstar.

So who are your biggest style inspirations?

I still look back to when I was little; things like Mary Poppins and the girls in Grease, 1950s fashions, tailoring and bright make-up. Same as always - I'm a creature of habit!

New song title - Did I?

Thanks to Nunya B on PopJustice who did a bit of snooping around.

DID I (Jasmine Barid/James Bryan/Sophie Ellis-Bextor/Alexander James Wallace)

http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=880866070&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

more tweets follow

SophieEB - in studio with dimitri tikovi and ed harcourt and live strings. sounds so delightful. great start to 2010.

JordanJayBlue - @SophieEB - just emailed you new mix! x
SophieEB - @JordanJayBlue - thanks will have to listen to it later after studio session. it's sounding great here. x

Okay i honestly have no idea about whats going on, but all those tweets got me insanely excited. i'm on board, whatever you're doing Sophie. I'm so on board!

Oh and Fascination have listed "Bittersweet" on their playlist, which means that is the official title.

Now excuse me while i go scream around and rejoice this bit of news

*yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! wooooo-hooooooooooooo*

New tweet confusion.

"tomorrow in the studio to record live strings. lush."

This was Sophie's recent tweet which sparked confusion among fans again. Sophie recently announced in some interview that the album was done. And while rumours about the new single hit the internet, this tweet left fans worried about another push-back in the album. (read here)

Sophie has not said anywhere that the album will be pushed back again. The new single "Your Love Is Bittersweet" will be out soon.

I have faith in you Sophie! Wishing the best for you

More song titiles pop up - exciting

Dave H on the official forum just posted saying that one of his sources hinted that there might be a song called "Revolution" on the album. I don't know if this is any reliable information or not, but its quite exciting!
Sophie was in Moscow on 31st December, and she may have performed her new single there. But there isn't any news about it yet.

Love Deluxe - new song title

Love Deluxe (Ellis-Bextor Sophie, Harry James, Wilcox Simon)
http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=880496763&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

Thanks to Jenkins25 for the update :)

C'mon January....

song titles confirmed

So, those song titles are true. Sophie is still songwriting. I don't know how long she will continue to write for this album...

1. Lose Myself - Christopher Rojas/Sophie Ellis-Bextor
SOURCE: http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=421696375&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

2. My Priority - Lamont Dazier/Sophie Ellis-Bextor/John Stack Graham/Daniel Woodcock
SOURCE: http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=431862872&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

3. Sorry Now - Christopher Mohr/Cohen Wayne/Sophie Ellis-Bextor
SOURCE: http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=493117230&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

4. Wicked Game - David Lipsey/Jeremy Shaw/Sophie Ellis-Bextor
SOURCE: http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=531665119&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1

5. Only For This Moment - Alexander Perls/Cohen Wayne/Sophie Ellis-Bextor
SOURCE: http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=450877133&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=10&start=1

a single this November MAYBE

Okay, according to inside sources:

"Sophie told me that they decided to release a single around October/November 2009, but probably with another single in early 2010 at the same time when the album will come out. So the album will come out in 2010 for sure now. She didn't tell me the name of the single, but it's something she recorded lately, it's brandnew, only a few days old !!!"

I'm trying not to get excited, but deep down, damn it i'm screaming and jumping around! I can't wait for this... fingers crossed that this is "the plan"

Response to the EP release

Now, most fans are happy that Sophie gave us "something" to listen to while we wait for the album, but is this EP a pathetic excuse for not finishing the album yet? Or is she genuinely busy working on something better?

First of all, thank you Sophie/Fascination for going ahead with the EP idea that several fans (including me) kept suggesting to you. If you are reading forums (official and unofficial), blogs, fansites etc., you will find a lot of fan suggestions that you could probably use for the album.

That said, i want to express my dissatisfaction with the EP. Sophie performed a new track at the Roundhouse and the least you could do was give us the live version of the song, if not a studio version leak. The whole point of having an EP suddenly seems pointless.

Sophie earlier made a statement that she wanted new material out this year. But now, inside rumours are that the album may not be out this year at all. Which is fine, she could still schedule the release for the first quarter next year, so long as she releases a single or two now.

There is ample time anyway till next year, and she can easily have two singles out before the album. That way people aren't going to forget her all over again. And she can continue recording the album between the promotion activities and later decide on a tracklist. She has several months to do all that. Sophie has recorde about 29 songs for the album, so what i'm expecting from the album (as are the other fans) apart from a number of singles is a number of b-sides.

She could try this:
September end - single release (preferably a Calvin Harris song)
October, November - promoting the single
December end - single release (this should be better than the former single cos the album will follow, and this song will have an impact on the album)
January - promoting the single, and pre-album gigs
February, March - single release along with the album
April, May, June - tour
May beginning - single release
June - promotion
July end - final single

Sophie is about to make a comeback soon

According to my source, Sophie is about to make a comeback soon. Now how fast is "soon" going to approach was not revealed. But it did get me really excited. For those who missed what has been happening...

1. Sophie was at T4 on the beach and she performed Heartbreak there. The crowd responded well to the song. She also performed Groovejet. Strange that they didn't seem to be as interested in the song as they were 10 years ago. Oh well, at least Murder still gets people all excited everytime she performs the song. Both videos are available on youtube.

2. Sophie performed an Acoustic version of Heartbreak, which, according to me, added more emotion to the song. I can see why she favoured this to be a single.

3. Sophie also performed a song called "Starlight" at the iTunes festival which was recorded by a few fans. All recordings are available on youtube. Sadly though, none of them are of a good quality. And according to reviewers her voice was a little dull and strained in this song. I don't blame her, she did 3 songs before this. She performed around 7 songs in total during that gig. All videos should be available on iTunes soon.

4. Starlight was recently confirmed on BlackMelody.com. And Sophie performed it recently. So my guess is that this is going to be the next single (or first single, depends on Fascination and Sophie want to do with Heartbreak).

Whatever happens Sophie, just release your album. All your fans, yes each and every single one of them, are waiting for some material, good or bad... If you album is going to take some time, then please tease us with a few out-takes or a digital EP or something... the wait is killing us!

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Starlight (produced by Ricahrd X)

So we have a new song title - Starlight, produced by Richard X.
SOURCE: http://blackmelody.com/track.php?id=63

I'm going to call this album "Powerhouse" for now, cos it seems like its going to be one of those hardcore dance records which no one can tire of. So far we have the following titles:

1. Sophia Loren
2. Off And On
3. Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer
4. Calling It Love
5. I Still Believe In Magic
6. Synchronized
7. Music Took My Man
8. Still Mixed Up
9. Whispers On The Street
10. The Scene
11. Hang Up
12. Supersexy
13. Give Into Love
14. Dial My Number
15. Under Your Touch
16. Starlight

I don't know what the second Freemasons track is called. I don't know which one of these is the Betty Boo song either. I'm not sure if the Groove Armada track is on the album. I think Dial My Number and Hang Up are the same song, considering that both song titles relate to a telephone. I can be wrong, there is no solid information available, its only my assumption.

Sophie said she's done with 15-20 tracks, and 10 of those are definitely going to make it onto the album. But she's going to work a little more before she finalizes it. I wonder what happened to those American collaborations.. There wasn't any further news about it.

Heat Magazine Interview

SOURCE: http://thisiswhoiam.heatworld.com/Celebrities/View/Sophie_Ellis-Bextor?WT.mc_id={ispy}

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is best known for cheek-bones that most models would die for and a posh voice and attitude that made her infamous on DJ Spiller’s anthem Groovejet in 2000. Three albums and 6 Top Ten hits later Sophie is still hitting the UK charts, collaborating with The Freemasons on new single Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer). She’s married to Richard Jones from The Feeling and has recently given birth to their second child, Kit Valentine. This week on This Is Who I Am with Orange we're joined by Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

h: who would you say have been the most influential people in your life?
S: I think my father (Robin Bextor) would definitely have to be top of the list because he was always the big music fan in the house, he was always playing me stuff. His passion for it was pretty infectious, although luckily his tone-deaf tuning was not quite so infectious (laughs). I suppose the other person, it’s got to be Richard really, because as my other half and as a musician he can pick up any instrument and make it do stuff. I’ve never been one of those people, I can sing, that’s sort of about it really. I think partly through the fact that we have a shared love of music anyway, but also through new things like us DJing together, it’s extending my love affair with music.

h: You mentioned your father being a big influence on you musically, what music did he play for you when you were younger?
S: I guess it was all the sort of staple stuff really, like The Beatles and The Doors. A real memory of mine is us getting excited about new albums and putting Pet Shop Boys on, and playing a game of Sorry or Cluedo. He tried to get me into chess, I was not into chess. But yeah, playing Super Cluedo Challenge where we listened to the new Pet Shop Boys album.

h: Shall we play first of all then, shall we play a Pet Shop Boys song?
S: I think that would be really prudent. I think it’s got to be Left To My Own Devices, I love that song.
(click here to listen to Pet Shop Boys - Left To My Own Devices)

h: Now Sophie, your parents are both in the media, your dad was a TV producer, your mum famously on Blue Peter, what was that like growing up with them, well your mum particularly, in the public eye? Did you know that you wanted to be in the public eye?
S: I suppose the biggest influence it had on me was just the fact that I looked at all jobs as being on a level playing field. When I was really small I wanted to be a nurse or a ballet dancer, and then when I got a bit older and thought about things like singing or acting, I think I wanted to be a lawyer at one point. So I suppose that was the main way that I made me feel like I could do any of those things.

h: Have you ever taken any inspiration from your mum’s Blue Peter career? Did you make things out of loo roll and sticky back plastic?
S: I didn’t really; I used to wait until she (Janet Ellis) brought them home from work actually. I used to get a lot of the makes.

h: Did you? You got all the “here’s one we made earlier”?
S: I did. I used to pester her to bring things home. It was quite a strange time in my life I guess because while she was presenting Blue Peter, which was when I was four and eight, that was exactly the same age as all the people that were watching it, so we used to go out and she’d get mobbed by six year olds. It affected me in a strange way, I was mostly proud but also incredibly possessive and I used to get quite jealous of all these other little people having a relationship with my mum when she was my mummy thank you very much.

h: I can understand that. Did that make you more popular at school? What were you like at school?
S: No, complete opposite. There was an ‘Against Sophie’ club.

h: That’s awful.
S: It’s pretty cruel isn’t it. But you know, I suppose for the other kids, they were interested at first, “oh your mum’s on telly,” and then it was, “hang on a minute, she’s the only one who’s got that so we can all gang up on her,” and stuff like that.

h: How did that make you feel? That must have affected you. What sort of age were you?
S: That was in my infant school so I think I was about 5 or 6. I can’t say it was brilliant, but at the same time I probably was a little showey-offey about it because I thought it was brilliantly glamorous. So I probably was a bit spoilt, I think that children, you know what kids are like it’s all quite sort of black and white really, so I probably would show off about some things and they go, “well if you’re going to be like that we’ll have an against you club,’ and you know, fair’s fair really.

h: Did that ‘Against Sophie’ club last very long or was it gone like most things in a little while?
S: It was probably gone within a week but the memory remains!

h: Is there any song that you’d like to play that reminds you of your mum? We’ve played one for your dad.
S: Yeah, she trained as an actress, and so we used to watch a lot of musicals together. So my favourite ones from when I was little that I used to watch with her were either Grease or Mary Poppins and I was thinking we have to go with Mary Poppins actually because Julie Andrews is undoubtedly an influence on me, I think she’s brilliant. And looking at the combination of the two, like Sandy when she goes to the dark side at the end of Grease and Mary Poppins, it’s kind of influenced my dress style because I do tend to dress like a nanny gone bad quite often!

h: I never would have thought of it like that!
S: If Mary Poppins had joined the Pink Ladies that’s me.

h: That would have been an amazing film. Which song from Mary Poppins would you like?
S: I think I’m going to go for the snappily titled Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
(click here to listen to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious)

h: What age were you when your parents got divorced and how did that affect you?
S: I was four when they separated. I suppose it was a sort of ongoing thing really. Luckily it had a happy ending, they definitely weren’t a couple that were supposed to stay together and I was never one of those scheming children trying to get them back together, it made sense to me that they were apart. And they’re both really happily married and I have brothers and sisters on both sides now and a lovely extended family and it’s all turned out fine. But yeah, I think the main thing is that it’s quite lonely really. Before my mum had my brother which was when I was eight, I suppose it’s quite a grown up situation to be in as a little person even if you’re not directly dealing with those issues but it’s quite a grown up concept that you have to now be a family where your mum and your dad aren’t doing the traditional family thing any more. But then again it was happening to other people and it happens to lots of children.

h: Maybe the fact that you were younger, I think you’re a bit more resilient when you’re younger.
S: Completely, I think kids take things in, they don’t live a life in what could have been or any alternatives. And they always made me feel very loved and wanted and all that so it was fine.

h: Were there ever any songs that you used to listen to that you found quite comforting? Not necessarily if you were feeling low about that but anything that you listened to when you were younger that would make you feel better about things?
S: Well I suppose, I mean throughout it all I was always still very excited about music and always, I suppose, an element of escapism really with making compilation tapes and watching music videos. There’s loads of songs that I could pick but the one, it was still something I used to listen to all the time and watch this video over and over of Toni Basil singing Hey Mickey. There’s a cheerleader in the video with an inappropriate amount of make up on, and again, obviously a big influence on me because it’s something I tend to do like before!

h: You do like make-up.
S: Yeah. But that song was a constant childhood friend because I think it’s a slice of perfect pop. I love it.

h: So Sophie, you mentioned that your parents are remarried now, happily remarried. How did you react when your first half sibling was born?
S: I was over the moon, I was absolutely besotted with him, my little brother Jack who I’m eight years older than, I absolutely adored him, I used to look after him all the time and swing him round probably dangerously close to furniture but I thought it was great.

h: Push him around in the push chair.
S: Yeah all of that, and put him to bed. He was such a sweet little boy and then he got to about 3 and my sister was born and he was absolutely furious that he was no longer the cute little one any more and he sort of remained in a bad little temper for about the next fifteen years! He’s emerged from it now, he’s twenty-one now. Even though my sister Martha is younger than him, it’s Jack that I’ve always, you always get that bit more protective of your little brothers.

h: Yeah. Any song that reminds you of him?
S: Oh god there’s loads, but I think the main one, he probably won’t thank me for this because he was really small, but it’s him holding onto a glass table when he was just learning to walk and pulling himself and he’d dance about to Summer In My Heart by Aztec Camera.
(click here to listen to Summer In My Heart)

h: So lets talk a bit about when you were a teenager. What was that like for you? You said that at infant school you had a bit of a gang against you, did you get any grief when you were a teenager?
S: Oh, who doesn’t? I mean being a teenager is really hard work. I did have friends and luckily a lot of my really close girlfriends now are the same ones, they’re girls I’ve known since I was eleven and so we’ve remained pretty close. But yeah, teenage years are just awkward.

h: Did you ever get called names or anything?
S: I didn’t get called any names but I just wasn’t popular with boys and I think that that’s really damning when you’re a teenage girl, it’s all you want, for some blokes to like you. And when I’d go out, on the very rare occasion that anybody would show me any interest they’d usually be some complete psycho. Great, why do I always get the weirdos?! Whereas all my other friends were slimmer, prettier, more academic, would be flying high and going out with boys. So I didn’t really feel like I’d found my own space within it until probably I started, I don’t know, seventeen, eighteen.

h: Do you think you grew in to your looks? Because you’ve got, obviously, quite modelly looks, but it doesn’t really conform with kids at school, do you know what I mean? The long, blonde hair and…
S: I looked weird. I think when I was about thirteen, I felt like this face where all these features were just floating around on it unsure of where to stop! Just not a happy time. I remember trying out different looks but, you know, I mean this whole heartedly, I think it actually did me a lot of good because I think if you’re a very pretty girl, I think sometimes it can almost replace a characteristic sometimes, it becomes a thing that, you know, it’s more than just an adjective to describe how you look, it’s sort of part of how you act, and if you don’t feel like you’ve got that then you have to develop these other sides to you and a bit more resilience maybe, and a slightly thicker skin. So I think in the long run it’s probably for the best, and that’s what I told myself then as well!

h: Very wise! Any songs that you used to listen to in your teenage years? Did you have a crush on anyone?
S: I think the music was a massive deal for me, probably from the age of about fourteen because up until that point I’d been listening to stuff that my mum and dad were playing and they’d say, “this is something we’ve always loved,” and they had loads of classics and it was great but with the advent of Brit Pop that was like a dawn of time and I think Blur really epitomized that for me. I think I fancied three quarters of Blur at the time, I won’t say which one I didn’t but you probably…

h: Probably can work it out!
S: So I think Girls and Boys by Blur probably sums that up for me and I still remember that excitement.
(click here to listen to Girls and Boys)

h: So we’ve covered a bit of your teenage years, but at what point did you go in to music yourself? And how easy was it?
S: I got in to music under my own steam when I was sixteen. And as to how easy it was actually the beginning bit was really very easy. I used to go clubbing every Friday night at indie clubs, and I met a guy that said a friend of a friend was looking for a singer for a band and I thought, “oh that’ll be fun because it’ll always be good to tell my kids, yeah I used to be in a band.” And the band that we formed was called Theaudience and we started doing gigs and with every gig that we did we got a new record company offering us a deal. I mean it was just that era, A&R men were going out to venues and when one jumped they all used to jump and make offers. So after eight gigs we had eight offers and we picked the best one and I finished my A-Levels and went off and made an album. It was pretty idyllic really.

h: Have you got a song that you want to play?
S: Okay, I’m going to pick and album track from Theaudience and the one I’m going to go for is one called You Get What You Deserve, which was always my favourite.

h: Is there anyone else you’d like to play at this stage?
S: We were always being compared to Blondie and the Pretenders and I just had never really listened to those bands so it was really the era of when I discovered Debbie Harry and what a phenomenal front woman she is, so sexy and assertive and sophisticated I guess. So I wanted to play Atomic by Blondie just because it was the time when I thought, “wow, there’s this whole other side of stuff I’d never really got into before.”

h: Would you say you had a mentor at all during that time when you were first embarking on the music scene?
S: I don’t know if there was just one, I mean I guess there were a few people whose advice I listened to and it’s continued to ring true. I mean certainly the main song writer in the band, a guy called Billy, we had such an adventure in the group, and he was a very bright guy and I think he was very interested in lyrics and that side of song writing and so I now hold lyrics in really high regards. I know that sounds like a strange and an obvious thing to say but there are so many songs where you can tell the lyric is not given as much respect as I think it should, and for me it can make or break a song. If I like a lyric it will get me more into the melody and vice versa.

And I think the other person, was my manager at the time, a guy called Martin Hall, who I still see around and he’s a lovely man. When I first started I was very opinionated and always speaking my mind. I didn’t realise that there this diplomacy that you develop, so I just used to say, like a typical teenager I guess, “oh that’s great,” and, “that’s rubbish,” and it was all very black and white to me. He sort of took me to one side one day and said, “look, if you’re not careful you’re going to be a sort of rent-a-quote for people to come to when they want you to give them an opinion on something,” and I thought you know what, I'm going to maybe just calm down a little bit and I’m so glad that I did because it really would have got me in hot water if I’d kept going.

h: Was there anything that you said that you wish you hadn’t?
S: No I think I stopped just in time. Because I thought it was like talking to your mates in the pub, but that’s not really what you do if you don’t like something. Maybe it’s a bit of growing up as well because when you get older you can’t be bothered to hate stuff with the same passion; it’s just not worth it.

h: And did being in theaudience affect your music career later on, do you think?
S: Oh, hugely. I mean I still think of myself as an indie kid who then did a dance record, so I now make pop because it meets in the middle and draws on all of that. Yeah, I still undeniably love a bit of indie music; that was my musical heritage really. I still approach a lot of music I do now, even if it's dance-orientated, with indie sensibilities - well I suppose I mean with traditional song sensibilities. So when I came to do Groovejet with Spiller I still thought, "OK, it's going to have a verse and a bridge and a chorus and a middle eight". And they were looking at me as if to say, "what are you talking about?". But for me that's how I approached the song - it had to tell a story.

h: Is it true that when you first heard the instrumental to Groovejet you didn't like it?
S: It wasn't that I didn't like it, I just didn't know why I'd been sent it, I thought it was a mistake. I thought, well I'm in an indie band and that's what I do, so why would I be doing a dance record? But actually it was really liberating because I thought, hang on a minute, just because I've done something up until now, you know.... There's a whole world out there! What kind of music do I want to make? So it really encouraged me to make my own decisions about things and not just go along with the tide. It's no good just sitting around getting bitter and moaning. If you want to make it work you've got to earn it really. You're not entitled to success, no one is.

h: You got a lot of success with Groovejet. How did you feel when it went to number 1?
S: Shocked.

h: Was it quite a whirlwind?
S: Complete whirlwind. I always feel a bit tragic talking about it now because it was like nine years ago! And I don’t want to seem like I’m dining out on something that was so long ago. But at the same time it was really magical, it was on the news you know, 6 o’clock news and 10 o’clock news, about the single and how well it was doing in the charts.

h: Was that the single that you were pitted against Victoria Beckham?
S: That’s right yeah. Because I think she was the last Spice Girl to release a solo single and so there was a lot of pressure on her to have a number 1.

h: Your first album, Read My Lips, went to number 2 in the album charts, with Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home also reaching number 2 in the single charts. What was going through your mind when you found out how successful they were and is there any songs that you used to listen to, to celebrate?
S: It was a really brilliant time; I was just having a ball. I was meeting new, fantastic people and a lot of the folk that I worked with on the first album I still work with now. The lady that did my music videos, a lady called Sophie Muller, ended up doing, I’ve done loads with her because we did Murder On The Dancefloor and did Take Me Home, and it was just a really good fit and I loved working with her. The people that did the artwork for that album ended up doing, I work with them every time I come to design the album covers. So it’s just, I’ve been really fortunate that I’ve worked with some fantastic folk and it’s still the same team. I suppose that was still the era of me really discovering exactly what it was that, what kind of an artist I wanted to be. I realised that actually there was loads of house music that I did really like, and so the song, it’s Modjo Lady. I love that song, I still love it.

h: You’ve put the release of your fourth album on hold slightly have you?
S: Kind of yeah, I was supposed to finish it in February but I ended up having a baby instead.

h: And are you going to be going on the road with this album?
S: I hope so.

h: How’s that going to be with having kids?
S: I don’t know yet! With all these things it depends on how successful it is and where you end up roaming. I mean the littles are still very little.

h: Littles, I like that.
S: Well they are and they’re portable, and if we end up needing to roam around a bit because it’s a successful album then that’s great, and if it’s a bit more low key then I can go on tour and I’m not going to be away that much and I can take them with me, I don’t know. We’ll find a way.

h: How do you think you’ve changed as a person from being a mum?
S: Probably massively, but it’s not over night, it takes a little while. I think on the one hand it’s almost like you lose a layer, a toughness layer, you’re that little bit more sensitive I guess, and you empathise and sympathise with the world and what’s happening to other people a lot more because every time you read a news story and something happens to a child, you can’t help it, suddenly it’s happening to your child. So yeah, you lose a layer like that. But at the same time you gain something in that security that you’ve started your own family and so long as the family and you guys are all alright and, you know, at night when they’re all tucked up in their beds and everything’s right in the world in your home, it’s right in the world everywhere. So it sort of makes things universal but also a lot more intimate.

h: And, I’m sure they’re too young to have their own favourite songs at the moment.
S: Sonny’s very in to music, I mean Kit’s only four months so he’s a bit of a dot with it all, but Sonny’s always been really in to music. Because he used to love Rhinestone Cowboy you see, and dance around to that naked after his bath, but now that’s…

h: And you remind him of that?
S: I remind him of it but no, that doesn’t happen any more now he’s five, apparently. The one I was going to play for him actually is Karma Chameleon because that was a song that I loved when I was little and it’s just amazing that there are these sort of evergreen songs that just always seem to work. And I’ll hear him singing that around the house and it’s just, it’s a perennial classic that one.

h: Not wearing make up and long hair?
S: Oh sometimes, not the long hair so much but occasional bit of make up, definitely!

h: You dated Andy Boyd for seven years before you met him, what made you realise that your relationship with Andy wasn’t, kind of, the one you were going to get married to?
S: Oh blimey! Oh god, what makes anyone realise their relationship isn’t heading in the right place? You start to wake up and realise that maybe you’re not the same person you were when you first started going out with them I suppose, and the things that are important to you, they shift. People have always been asking couples that have been together for decades the secrets to a happy relationship, and there are some fundamentals I think that definitely help you on your way, like being kind to each other, it’s so easy to not be kind to the person you’re with. And actually that kindness and actually been bothered to listen to them about what they’ve been doing during the day and respond accordingly, that stuff goes a long way. But there’s also this big factor of the stuff you can’t control and that’s just growing together and wanting the same things out of life and prioritising the same stuff. I guess like any, it happens to a number of couples, after a few years I just realised that maybe we weren’t, the things that really mattered to me weren’t as important to him and vice versa, and we maybe weren’t being as kind to each other as you should be. If you can’t rectify it then you’ve just got to move on.

h: It comes to its natural end doesn’t it. How did you meet Richard Jones from The Feeling?
S: He was my bass player in my band for a couple of years actually before we started going out. I always got on really well with him but I can honestly say it didn’t occur to me that there was anything romantic there, I was with someone, he was with someone, and you know, we just worked together and then I think maybe on our third tour or something we just started hanging out more and I started thinking, “hang on a minute, this guys actually really, really, you know, a good man.” And so when I was fancy free and single we started trying dates out and we did it really quietly because we thought it might be a bit cringy for the people that knew us, “you guys are going out!” So we kept it really quiet and then after about a month found out we were having a baby and then had to tell everybody really, really quickly!

h: Any song that you can play that reminds you of when you were first secretly dating?
S: Well it’s actually a Feeling song. It’s Fill My Little World, because when we first started going out he said to me, “I’m actually in my own band,” and he had a lot of the demos that became the singles on the first album. So Fill My Little World was the one where I remember playing the CD in my bedroom thinking, “oh my god I hope I like this!”
(click here to watch Fill My Little World)

h: Yeah!
S: But luckily I thought they were great and Fill My Little World was the song on the demos that really jumped out immediately as this is something really special, and so even when I hear it now it just reminds me of those times.

h: What was the first song that you and Richard danced to at your wedding?
S: We used music a lot in our wedding but our first dance was Lionel Ritchie, All Night Long. And we learnt a choreography, quite 70s style disco sort of dance thing. So we started it off in that sort of boring, awkward, shifty dance, slow dance that couples do, and then when it broke in to (sings) “All night long,” and the drums come in we broke in to this dance routine which was quite fun, nobody knew.

h: We’ve touched on your kids a little bit; you had slight complications with the birth of both your children. Has it made you more overprotective of them or not?
S: No, I don’t think so. If anything it sort of goes the other way in a weird way, not saying that you put them in danger.

h: Do you get stressed as a person or are you quite laid back?
S: I think I’m quite laid back and then every once in a while I’ll have a day where I feel like I’m starting to lose my grip and you sort of teeter on the brink don’t you.

h: What do you do when you feel like that? Is there anything you do to cheer yourself up?
S: I’m probably just really bad company. Moan I think. What do I do to chill out? I suppose I just do something simple and quiet, go out for a meal or have a take-away, rent a film and just try and clear your mind for a minute. Richard and I are both as bad as each other, we’ll both be still up at midnight, looking stuff up on the internet. It’s tragic really!

h: What would you like your legacy to be for your children?
S: Blimey that’s a heavy one! I suppose just giving them a happy childhood really, same as any parent wants for their kids. Ultimately just because of my day job it shouldn’t change anything about what I want to give them. Their future is not about being the child of mine is it, it’s about doing whatever it is that they want to do. So hopefully not embarrassing them too much in the playground I suppose!

h: Is there a current artist that you’re listening to that you really admire at the moment?
S: There’s loads of stuff. I’ve been working with this guy called Joe who’s in a band called Metronomy and they do a song called My Heart Rate Rapid which I just can’t get out of my brain most of the time, but that’s more kind of left field dance music.
(click here to listen to My Heart Rate Rapid)