The fiercely private pop star is in lockdown with her five kids – and has turned her home into a weekly live-streamed party. It’s a way to feel connected and lifted, she says, in a world turned upside-down
If there has been a small moment of joy in lockdown, it was the image of a silver-clad Sophie Ellis-Bextor, sequin-spattered kids in tow, performing her disco hits from her living room on a Friday night. The live-streamed party, during which she interrupted her hit song Take Me Home (the lyrics changed to “stay at home”) to tell one of her children: “Don’t step on the baby!” has become a weekly event to look forward to.
“Any kind of work at the moment is quite a challenge, I have to say,” she says. “On the second week, I really wasn’t in the mood. I was feeling quite flat and a bit down. Then I found myself putting my rollers in, putting my makeup on, choosing the songs, putting my sequins on ... and I felt lifted. Totally lifted.”