Sophie Ellis-Bextor To Perform Viral ‘Saltburn’ Track ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ At BAFTA Film Awards

British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor will perform her 2001 chart-topper Murder on the Dancefloor, most recently known as the concluding viral song from Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, at the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards.

Returning to the charts 22 years after its first release, Murder on the Dancefloor and Ellis-Bextor attracted a whole new crowd of younger, largely online fans following the release of Fennell’s Saltburn. In the pic — which has five noms at this year’s BAFTAs — lead actor Barry Keoghan ends the feature with a prolonged dance sequence to the track. Keoghan is naked in the scene, which has fast become a viral meme on TikTok and other social media sites. The track has become so popular that Ellis-Bextor even announced plans to re-release the song on vinyl later this year. 

“What’s happened with the song and how it’s got new people who weren’t even alive the first time it came out listening to it. It’s just spectacular,” she said following the song’s explosion. 

Ellis-Bextor is the first musical act announced for this year’s BAFTA Film Awards, which take place at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on February 18. The ceremony will be hosted by actor David Tennant. Leading noms on the night is Christopher Nolan’s atomic biopic Oppenheimer, which snagged 13 noms, including best film, director, and adapted screenplay. Oppenheimer was one nomination away from equaling All Quiet on the Western Front’s record 2023 haul of 14 noms. Trailing Nolan is Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, who clocked 11 nominations with his latest black comedy, Poor Things. Lanthimos’ haul also includes best film alongside outstanding british film and adapted screenplay for Tony McNamara. 

Chasing the leading two is Martin Scorsese’s Osage epic Killers Of The Flower, which clocked nine nominations. The 3-hour plus pic pops up in best film, supporting actor for Robert DeNiro, and cinematography for Rodrigo Prieto. However, the film didn’t land noms in either best director or best actress (Lily Gladstone), where it had been longlisted and earmarked as a frontrunner. Jonathan Glazer’s breakout Cannes drama The Zone Of Interest also netted nine nominations, giving the British filmmaker his best-ever BAFTAs haul. 

Other leading films include Anatomy of A Fall, The Holdovers, and Maestro, which all clocked seven noms. Andrew Haigh’s enigmatic drama All of Us Strangers landed six nods, and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has five nods alongside Saltburn. 

The BAFTA Film Awards will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, on BritBox International in USA, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and South Africa, as well as BBC Australia and Britbox in Australia, NOVA Bulgaria, NOVA Greece, Turner Spain, and Canal Plus.