Murder on the Dancefloor
| "Murder on the Dancefloor" | ||||
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| Single by Sophie Ellis-Bextor | ||||
| from the album Read My Lips | ||||
| B-side | "Never Let Me Down" | |||
| Released | 3 December 2001 | |||
| Format | CD single, 12-inch single | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Genre | Nu-disco, dance-pop | |||
| Length | 3:52 (album version) 3:38 (radio edit) |
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| Label | Polydor, Universal | |||
| Writer(s) | Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Gregg Alexander | |||
| Producer(s) | Gregg Alexander, Matt Rowe | |||
| Sophie Ellis-Bextor singles chronology | ||||
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"Murder on the Dancefloor" is a song written by Gregg Alexander and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, produced by Alexander and Matt Rowe for Ellis-Bextor's first album, Read My Lips. After the release of "Take Me Home" in August 2001, Ellis-Bextor released her best-selling single to date in December 2001.
The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, stayed on the charts for twenty-three weeks, and became the most played song of 2002 in all of Europe, becoming a top ten hit all around the world, except in the United States, where the song was not published as a physical single.
The follow-up single to "Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me)" was originally planned to be "Lover", an album track from Read My Lips, as read in first edition album stickers and announced by the label, but for unknown reasons the release was cancelled and replaced by "Murder on the Dancefloor" that turned out to be Sophie's biggest hit.
The song is deemed to be among Ellis-Bextor's fan favourite songs, with over 16 million combined views on YouTube.
The song is Ellis-Bextor's greatest hit so far internationally. It was also a hit in Australia peaking at number three, staying in the top fifty for twenty weeks, being accredited platinum by ARIA and becoming the eleventh-highest selling single for 2002.
The music video was directed by Sophie Muller and it centres around a dance competition. The winner's prize consists of a pair of golden high-heel shoes and a substantial amount of money. Desperate to win, Ellis-Bextor proceeds to sneakily injure and disqualify the majority of the other dancers. She causes one to slip on butter, before tripping-up another, who sees her do it and angrily points at her to no avail. Next she slyly poisons a trio of potential rivals by spiking the punch during a refreshment period and then unstraps a female contestant's clothes causing her to run off. She finally frames a male dancer for cheating on his partner, by planting a G-String on his person; this results in his partner slapping him and exiting the dance floor.
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Wikipedia