Sophie Ellis-Bextor Pays Tribute To Victims Of Bataclan Attack Before Murder On The Dance Floor Performance In Paris

Sophie Ellis-Bextor attends the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England. UK. Sunday 18th February 2024 (Photo by Famous Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor took a poignant pause to pay tribute to the victims of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks at the city’s iconic Batalcan venue before singing her hit Murder On The Dancefloor.

The attack took place during an Eagles Of Death Metal gig at the Jewish owned concert hall. The coordinated attack by Islamists pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group resulted in the deaths of 90 attendees and came just months after the January attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine headquarters.

“It didn’t feel right to me to just waltz into a song called Murder On The Dancefloor without noting and paying tribute to the history,” Ellis-Bextor said, acknowledging the sensitivity surrounding the song’s title in light of past events.

She continued: “All I want to say is that Murder On The Dancefloor is not a song with any evil in its heart. The whole intention of that song, like this venue, is to bring joy and music onto the dancefloor.”

The performance comes as the song experiences a resurgence in popularity, fueled by its inclusion in the closing scene of director Emerald Fennell’s film Saltburn.

The film’s inclusion of the song in its closing scene has propelled the track back into the limelight, even breaking into the Billboard 100 in the US for the first time, 23 years after its release in 2001.