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!