After being uplifted throughout her career by the LGBTQ+ community, disco-pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor is making sure that the community knows she stands firmly with them in a new interview.
In an interview with The Independent published Sunday (Oct. 5), the “Murder on the Dancefloor” hitmaker spoke out about the state of politics surrounding the trans community in 2025, sharing her disdain at seeing increased attacks against the community, especially in online spaces. Speaking specifically about those spreading transphobic views online, Ellis-Bextor said she was dismayed at the fervor with which many of them spoke.
“These people make trans people their whole personality and spend their entire day checking their socials and being angry, whereas trans people themselves just want to be under the radar and live their lives,” she explained. Her fears are confirmed by the data. A February study found that instances of hate speech on X rose by roughly 50% in the months after Elon Musk purchased the platform in 2022.
Ellis-Bextor continued, adding that movements such as Pride felt more vital than ever. “There was a time when Pride felt like a celebration of all the shoulders that people were able to stand on, but now it feels like it’s an absolute political necessity,” she said. “I suppose you have to be optimistic that things will get better again, but I do get very down about it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the singer explained that she’s had to deal with people in her personal life turning on the trans community over the course of the last few years. “I had one of my girlfriends go on quite a weird flip, and it was really affecting me,” she explained. “And you definitely do need to assert that you feel really differently, and then just find ways to support what you believe is being on the right side of history.”
The interview comes a few weeks after the release of Ellis-Bextor’s new album Perimenopop, the singer’s return to disco-pop after the runaway success of her song “Murder on the Dancefloor” in 2024 thanks to its prominent sync in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn. Ellis-Bextor spoke to Billboard that year about earning her first Billboard Hot 100 entry thanks to the film. “My relationship with the song is great, I perform it all the time — it’s been the song that people associate the most with me,” she said. “But to have it having this little wild adventure on the charts is actually bonkers.”
