Covercentric: Sophie Ellis-Bextor Getting Away With It
Oh, the misfortune of being a Sophie Ellis-Bextor fan. Last I heard, she was promising the new album would be out by May, but I’m taking it with a pinch of salt. For now, the UK pop ice queen has a new single out, “Not Giving Up On Love”, a collaboration with Dutch DJ Armin Van Buuren. I’m no fan of trance, but this is actually a beautiful, melancholic piece of trance-pop that’s a cut above your average generic Guetta hit, and deserves to be a summer anthem. Back in July 2010, she stopped by Dermot O’Leary’s show on BBC Radio 2 to do a live session promoting it (it was forward-thinking of her!). Not only did she deliver a great acoustic version with an extra verse, she also did a lovely cover of “Getting Away With It”, an old hit by ’80s supergroup Electronic, comprised of members of Pet Shop Boys and New Order and The Smiths. Under such stripped-down arrangements, her voice truly radiates. Now if she could finally get her fourth studio out this year, it might very well have the potential to be a pop gem of 2011. Perhaps to most, she’s just a remnant of the early noughties, but I do believe she’s still a real unique pop star worth rooting for. Hear the tracks and watch the Sophie-Muller-directed, filmed-in-Ibiza video after the jump.
