Sophie Ellis-Bextor features on episode 4 of ‘The Red Carpet Treatment - On The Road Presented by Mastercard’

23 October 2025 - Press release

The Red Carpet Treatment - On The Road Presented by Mastercard

Hosted by Luke Hamnett

 

Sophie Ellis-Bextor features on episode 4, out TODAY available to watch in full on @BRITs YouTube or on @BRITs social channels 

 

The BRIT Awards with Mastercard today releases the fourth episode of the official podcast The Red Carpet Treatment - On The Road presented by Mastercard.

The new series is presented by acclaimed Instagram and TikTok creator Luke Hamnett, who interviews guests in the back of a VIP car, catching up on a range of topics including career highlights, current projects and their experience of all things BRITs as they hit the road.

The fourth episode out TODAY features pop icon Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who recently released her eighth studio solo album “Perimenopop”, which hit #5 in the UK’s Official Album Charts. The British singer-songwriter speaks to Luke about her latest album, Saltburn, touring memories and her excitement over the BRITs’ move up north to Manchester for the first time.

Episodes of The Red Carpet Treatment - On The Road presented by Mastercard will drop weekly every Wednesday until 26th November. Other guests set to appear in this series include Nova Twins, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Aston Merrygold and Sigrid. The first, second and third episodes featured Sam Ryder, Katy B and Charley Marlowe.

Check out the fourth episode with Sophie Ellis-Bextor HERE, available to watch in full on YouTube or across @BRITs social channels.

 

SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR EPISODE 4 - Sophie speaks to Luke about…

Her new album “Perimenopop”...

"It's disco pop. It's optimistic. It sums up my relationship with pop music, actually. It's like a little audio tonic to make you feel a bit better. Because I had this resurgence with ‘Murder on the Dance Floor’, it was the first time I was thinking back to when I started with it and seeing the video and the artwork and all that kind of thing. And calling the album Perimenopop was a really amazing way to liberate me from any kind of comparison with that because it kind of put front and centre the fact that that's not me anymore. And I didn't really realise that's what I was doing with the title until I was nearly releasing it. And I felt like, God, I feel really free. I feel like I’m exactly who I am right now."

 

How she felt about ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ being used in Saltburn…

Sophie - “I knew about Emerald [Fennell]. I never met her, but I was thinking, what a treat you want to use my song. And then I could see this little synopsis that'd be someone naked. I was like, count me in, got to see that.”

 

Luke - “And also because you're a baddie in that [music video], and he's [Barry Keoghan] a baddie in this.” 

Sophie - “Well, I think you're right. I think there is a little, as I said, that dark triumph in the baddie coming out on top, that's obviously baked into the veins of murder on the dance floor.”

 

Her favourite rider snack…

"I do love gherkins. You know, you always have to have your rider of what you want in your dressing room. Gherkins have always been my thing because they're like an easy snack, and I'm someone that's very extroverted in my pickle passion, but I do know that when they're on the side, loads of people are like 'can I have some'."

 

On the artists she's loved touring with and winning over Take That fans…

"Pet Shop Boys was really special because I grew up on their music so that felt like a real moment, and then Kylie, because our paths hadn't really crossed in person that much and so it was nice to meet her and hang out. It was really such a good gig you can imagine like, really happy, a happy thing. I actually love doing support tours and I would actually credit the Take That tour as being part of what actually helped me get better at performing live, because it was quite a sobering experience to walk out night after night to arenas mainly full of women waiting for these four guys to come out on stage, and have to win them over."