Sophie Ellis-Bextor Perimenopop
Written by WorldOneFm on September 12, 2025
Sophie Ellis-Bextor offers elegant disco pop on new album Perimenopop
The early 2000s may have launched Ellis-Bextor, with hits like Murder on the Dancefloor and Take Me Home, but it’s the 2020s that find the singer in her pomp. 2023’s breakout film Saltburn propelled Murder back to chart prominence, not just in the UK but stateside too.
The US Billboard chart welcomed the Brit to its Hot 100 for the first time in her career. This, in turn, led SEB to her inaugural tour across the pond.
The 46-year-old may no longer call herself a young industry upstart, but that doesn’t mean she can’t hit new heights.
While explaining the meaning behind Perimenopop and the narrative of turning 40, Ellis-Bextor revealed to Billboard:
“There’s a bit of a narrative about some aspects that might sound a bit gloomy. And I just wanted something that would flip the script on it.”
She tellingly adds:
“I think it’s also quite a good indicator of how much more ballsy I’ve gotten as I’ve gotten older.”
The musician’s confidence is very well placed. Courtesy of bubbly modern pop and seventies disco chic (in more ways than one), the eighth studio album is big, bright, and irrepressibly catchy.
The project wastes little time in putting its best foot forward with an immediate triple threat of delightful disco.
‘Relentless Love’ struts out of the gate with synths chirping playfully, violins bringing a bit of dramatic flair, and a perky beat. ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Taste’ follow, ensuring that an initial toe-tap turns into a full-on shimmy.
The former pairs a tremulous fiddle with pulsing beats, making for a frenetic frolic. Meanwhile, the latter shows off sumptuous guitar work reminiscent of Chic’s Le Freak.
Ellis-Bextor has previously toured with the band, and Nile Rodgers returns the favour here with a writing collaboration on the bop ‘Diamond in the Dark’.
Urgent violin flies above squelching synth-pop with neatly grooving guitar. The track helps to maintain Perimenopop’s feel-good fire even in the late innings.
In fact, Sophie’s latest effort is something of a seventies and eighties time machine.
The funk of Earth, Wind & Fire and the synth-zip of the Pointer Sisters both feel at home on this old-school nostalgia fest.
The album’s electronic pop punch, seasoned with funk elegance, places it alongside fellow disco queen Kylie Minogue. It also harks back to Ellis-Bextor’s own early breakouts Murder on the Dancefloor and Spiller’s Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love).
There’s a vibrant light-heartedness pulsing and bouncing through the dozen tracks. From the catwalk-ready ‘Glamorous’ to Nile Rodgers’ late-album turn on ‘Diamond in the Dark’, to the final number ‘Don’t Know What You’ve Got ’Til It’s Gone’, the performance is a slick, charismatic showcase.
Sophie commands the mic as she surely does the dancefloor. Her refined vocals bring out the glittering, buoyant fizz of Perimenopop.
Lyrically, the set has the fun, angst-free charm of Carly Rae Jepsen, and a 2000s sound that longs to be back at the discotheque.
After committing Murder on the Dancefloor almost a quarter of a century ago, Sophie Ellis-Bextor has killed it once more. Perimenopop is her latest weapon of choice, and she wields it with exuberant aplomb.
