The unlikely second act of Sophie Ellis-Bextor‘s 2001 dance pop jam “Murder on the Dancefloor” will get one more spin in the spotlight when the singer performs the song at the upcoming BAFTA Film Awards 2024. The English singer/songwriter’s tune got an unexpected boost when it was featured in the BAFTA-nominated hit Saltburn.
The 23-year-old song co-written by Ellis-Bextor and New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander for the singer’s debut album, Read My Lips, matched its U.K. chart heights earlier this month when it hit No. 2 on the British pop charts while also debuting at No. 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 13.
“I am so excited. I will be performing at the EE BAFTAs 2024,” the singer said in an Instagram video announcement. The BAFTA Awards will air on Feb. 18 on BBC One and iPlayer and BritBox in North America. “I’m already practicing some looks and I cannot wait,” she added.
The nudisco jam “became one of the most talked about moments in cinema this year and a viral sensation, taking the song back into the music charts 22 years after the first release of the song,” BAFTA said in a statement according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Old and new fans are streaming the track which is being used as a trending audio for millions of videos on Instagram and TikTok and [it] continues to mark new achievements on Spotify, YouTube and TikTok globally alongside newfound success in America, where it entered the Billboard Top 100 for the first time and continues to climb.”
The divisive murder sex drama starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant was nominated for five BAFTA Awards, including best actor in leading role for Keoghan, best supporting actor for Elordi, best actress for Pike, best original score for Anthony Willis and outstanding British film.
Speaking to Billboard earlier this month about the unexpected revival of the tune, Ellis-Bextor said, “That song took me places I’d never been before, and it was always quite a special one for me. [It] took me to Latin America and Southeast Asia and all around Europe — it was already a song I associated with adventure and new things and a friendly, glorious chapter of my life.”
But the song crashing the Billboard charts, she said, was “glorious, it’s magical, really. But it’s very hard to process, if I’m honest.”
Watch Ellis-Bextor announce the good news below.
