Sophie @ NYC, Dave Cromwell's interview and more

Sophie was at NYC with the Freemasons where she performed three of her biggest hits for the gay audience. Surprisingly, they knew the songs. Sophie should definitely perform in the US again. Also, i love how she handles the stage so well. I love her movements.
Here are the videos.
Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
Murder On The Dancefloor
Heartbreak Make Me A Dancer

Here's Dial My Number (click) live from Istanbul (better quality than the youtube video)

Dave Cromwell's exclusive interview with Sophie - Read here
(thank you Dave for doing this for all SEB fans)

And an interview at Club Arena, Vladivostok at One Year Party - http://www.twitvid.com/XWLBT

Sophie Ellis-Bextor - more than just a name in pop

From starting out in an indie band aged 17, Sophie Ellis Bextor's name has swelled beyond that of a successful pop artist to become a high street brand. The value of her name has grown and grown and she even became the face of Rimmel make-up in 2008.

Even though she now enjoys contracts with high street brands, there are drawbacks: "Yucky as it sounds, I feel you sort of lose ownership of your name," she said.

Brand associations - Sophie went on to tell Newsbeat: "Now when I say Sophie Ellis Bextor I feel that's not really me because that's become this entity from doing the gigs and the shows and the make-up contracts and whatever else."

Being associated with big brands is a long way from where she started out: "When I was seventeen, the idea of doing a clothing line for a high street brand would have been totally unthinkable but now it's completely the opposite."

"I'm a little bit allergic to the whole brand thing to be honest but maybe it's just happening around me and I'm not really aware of it."

Even though she has commercial commitments, and there are even more brands knocking on her door, she says she keeps a level head on the decisions she makes. "My rule for the corporate stuff is the same as with my music - I do whatever means I can sleep at night and whatever means I can be dignified."

Sophie Ellis Bextor's fourth album, Straight to the Heart, is due out this autumn.

Quickest song - She's been working with a number of different producers - Calvin Harris, Richard X and others including Greg Kurstin. He produced Lily Allen's album, It's Not You It's Me. Sophie went to Los Angeles to work with him and explained that he doesn't hang about when it comes to song writing.

"He holds the award for the quickest written song on the record. I turned up midday, we wrote, we had a long leisurely lunch and it was done by quarter to four."

"I've never done a song in under four hours before - from start to finish. It's called Revolution and it's probably going to be a single."

After this album she says she's going to change musical direction and she's recently been working with trance legend Armin Van Buuren who's ranked number one DJ in the world. "I must confess I knew very little about the trance scene, I'm more house and commercial dance but it was really interesting and different."

"If you're going to start in trance then you should start with the number one trance DJ in the world I figured. It's going to be really good fun."

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_10430000/newsid_10439900/10439980.stm

bits from here and there

Sophie turns princess for a day
Sophie Ellis-Bextor dressed as a princess today to launch Sky Broadband's 'Happily Ever After Campaign'. The project is aimed at young children, asking them to find new endings to traditional fairy tales. The mum of two said she thought the project was important to help children develop their creativity.
Watch the video here - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdt37z_sophie-ellis-bextor-turns-princess_news

LOL. They use the term "bex-monster"...i'm glad that caught on. I started that on PJ.

Lady Bex (let's hope this one catches on too) also had some tips about hair and dressing for festivals.

• Tips for your hair - http://www.zimbio.com/Sophie+Ellis-Bextor/articles/sBsmUXWj7Ty/Great+Hair+Day+Sophie+Ellis+Bextor+Sweet+Summer
• How to dress up for a festival - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/7817797/Sophie-Ellis-Bextor-how-to-dress-for-a-festival.html

NGU is (also) a part of Armin's album Mirage

Not Giving Up is on Armin's album "Mirage". The whole confusion about Not Giving Up not being on Sophie's album makes sense now. No wonder she didn't talk about it in that interview with gay mag. Maybe this will end up becoming an Armin feat. Sophie track. I'm not happy with what's going on right now. They have potentially one of the best albums recorded by Sophie and they're just letting it all go down the drain!? What the hell is Fascination doing with Sophie's career!?!?!?

Mirage, which will be released mid-September, contains some special collaborations, just like the previous album. (...) This time he got some international artists to work with him: 'I worked with Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Adam Young

'Armin will tour the world with his new music later this year during the Armin Only 2010: Mirage tour. 'I will be on tour for almost year from this October. A couple of countries have been added to the list.' 'Mirage' will be released in about thirty countries, such as the US.'

ORIGINIAL ARTICLE - http://www.depers.nl/entertainment/489763/Armin-werkte-harder-dan-ooit.html

Sophie to support PSB and more

YES! Sophie is supporting the Pet Shop Boys on their UK Tour.
Read the article here - http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/news/2521

Sophie also has a support tour with Will Young on his UK Tour. Hopefully both support tours help her sell the album. The new single "Not Giving Up" will be out soon. We still have no dates, but Sophie is shooting the video with Armin Van Buuren soon.

In other news, NRJ Radio Lebanon is still playing Bittersweet and it's currently #2 there. I'm really happy that the single is performing well internationally. It's a shame that the single fared so poorly on the UK Charts. Hopefully the next single performs better.
Here's the link to the NRJ Charts - http://www.nrjlebanon.com/music/chart_index.php#middle
thanks to Eden for the heads up

Also, Sophie and Junior's single is still getting some airplay internationally. "Can't Fight this Feeling" peaked at #14 on the Spanish Official Dance Chart?? But after a couple of weeks bouncing up & down, the single currently holds the #21 spot. You can vote for the single (once a day). Let's hope the single climbs higher next week.
Here's the link to vote - http://www.maxima.fm/51Chart/
thanks to Fran for the update

Sophie/Betty Boo collab

The Betty Boo collaboration is called "Is It Love". Not sure if this will ever get released as a b-side or a bonus track.

IS IT LOVE - Written by Betty Boo, SEB and Steve Robson
http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&keyID=11191381&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID

Thanks to NunyaB for the heads up

Roger Sanchez collab may remain unreleased

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Music/Roger-excited-to-interact-with-fans/articleshow/6068143.cms
British pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor has recorded a track for your album. How was it working with her? I produced a song that the Nervo Girls wrote to and Sophie sang on it. Unfortunately, it didn’t make it on her album and the label won’t allow me to release it on mine. Sophie is a talented artiste and it was great working with her.

thanks to Fran and NunyaB for the heads-up

As if things weren't bad already! I wonder why Fascination are so annoying when it comes to releases. I hope that they're saving it up for an iTunes bonus or an Asian bonus. Sanchez is HUUUGE here I know he's a pretty big name in most parts of the world. They should really let him use the track or at least give us the track as an iTunes bonus or a region specific bonus tracks.

Hopefully the second single comes out soon. They have a good album in their hands and they'll end up screwing it by delaying releases, cancelling collaborations and what not!