Saltburn / Murder on the Dancefloor

2023

Date: December 2023 to January 2024 · Place: TikTok, film released by MGM · Figures: Emerald Fennell, director · Barry Keoghan, lead · Sophie Ellis-Bextor, song (2001) · MGM, distributor · Tags: Film, SoundRevival, Dance 01. A 2001 Song Charts Again Emerald Fennell's Saltburn releases in US theaters 22 November 2023 and on Amazon Prime 22 December. The closing scene features Barry Keoghan naked-dancing through a country house to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's 2001 single 'Murder on the Dancefloor.' By Christmas the song has charted in 17 countries and TikTok is wall-to-wall recreations. Ellis-Bextor earns more streaming income from December 2023 alone than from the previous decade combined. 02. The Bathwater Cycle The film generates two parallel meme cycles. The Keoghan dance becomes a TikTok recreation format. The earlier bathwater scene, in which Keoghan drinks Jacob Elordi's used bathwater, becomes the rarer kind of meme that the algorithm partially suppresses for content-policy reasons. Both cycles depend on the platform's forensic gaze. Couch Guy two years earlier rehearsed the same instinct. Sources • Billboard, 'Sophie Ellis-Bextor Murder on the Dancefloor Charts Worldwide' (5 January 2024) • The Guardian, 'How Saltburn Made Sophie Ellis-Bextor a Star Again' (4 January 2024) • Variety, 'Saltburn Becomes Streaming Phenomenon on Prime Video' (28 December 2023)