Sophie Ellis-Bextor addresses Bataclan deaths before singing ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ at Paris venue

‘All I want to say is that ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ is not a song with any evil in its heart,’ said the singer

Sophie Ellis-Bextor paid tribute to those who were killed at the Bataclan in a terror attack in 2015 before playing her signature hit “Murder on the Dancefloor” at the Paris venue.

The singer, 44, is currently on a European tour as the hit song enjoys renewed attention after being featured at the climax of Emerald Fennell’s thriller Saltburn.

However, its title has an unfortunate resonance at the venue where 130 people were murdered and a further 500 injured in a violent attack by Isis-linked militants on 13 November 2015.

Before the song started, Ellis-Bextor addressed the sold-out crowd.

“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,” she said.

“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.

“So in tribute to that spirit, and in tribute to everybody who has ever danced right here at the Bataclan, this is ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’.”

Sophie Ellis-Bextor attending the Baftas 2024 (PA)

In January, Ellis-Bextor told The Independent that she has been relishing her track’s renewed success and return to the charts. “It’s been pretty wild actually, but I’m definitely here for it,” she said.

“I’ve always loved the fact that I’m not really in control of what happens to me and my music for a lot of the time, and I’ve always just been open to these new adventures and seeing what can happen.”

Saltburn director Fennell also told The Independent: “The final dance needed to feel like a moment of triumph. A post-coital, joyful act of desecration and territory-taking. There’s no other song to me that so perfectly contains all the evil glee, the sheer FUN, the irresistible camp of ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’.

“The beat, the words, Sophie’s incredible deadpan delivery. A sweet butter-wouldn’t-melt threat. If there’s a song that’ll make you dance no matter what, this is it, and Oliver needed to make us all dance to his tune.”

Since Saltburn’s release, “Murder on the Dancefloor” has featured in more than 300,000 TikToks.

“It’s a brilliant, upbeat song that is another example of how music fans on TikTok don’t care if a song is new or old,” Darina Connolly, head of music partnerships UK & Ireland at TikTok, told The Independent.