Ella Henderson’s remake of the iconic 1980s Bodyform advert has been fully revealed – and she certainly hits the high notes singing the classic lyrics, “Whooah Bodyform!”.
Footage shows the singer-songwriter bringing the rest of the lyrics into the 21st century – replacing the chorus “Shaped for confidence, shaped for comfort, shaped for you”, with “I am confident, I am powerful, I’m here for you”.
But Ella’s take on the old ad isn’t the only big reveal in the video, as she was surprised by her old voice coach – and singer of the original Bodyform advert – Stevie Lange.
The 75-year-old singing teacher shot to fame in the eighties with a number of successful adverts – but coaching Ella was another of her career highlights.
Following Stevie’s surprise appearance at the Metropolis Studios, in London, Ella said: “Stevie used to vocal coach me – she was, and is, one of the best vocalists of all time. She introduced me to everything.
“My fundamental warm-up is what she taught me. My vocal steam, my sirens, everything. To have her here is crazy, but so is singing Bodyform… the big WHOOAH.”
Stevie said: “She always wanted to do that, so it used to be part of the warm-up. She used to say “How do you do this?”, and “I don't wanna hurt myself”. And I used to tell her, “Well you will hurt yourself a little, but there is a way of doing it”, and then she just used to do it all the time.
“I remember her saying one day, which is extraordinary: “I wanna sing that one day, I want to sing something like that that’ll be so iconic”. And here we are, she's actually doing it.”
Ella added: “It’s very hard to live up to a legend like this, so we've made it very different – but we’ve still tried to put those diva powerful vocals in. I did put a little grit and growl into it.
“As soon as I mentioned I was doing this to anyone, anyone of my friends, they just go what? The whooah? So yeah, very exciting.”
The new track was produced by Jordan Riley, who also worked on “Crazy What Love Can Do”, Ella’s hit collaboration with David Guetta and Becky Hill – which was one of the Top 10 most-played songs of 2022.
Bodyform commissioned Ella to remake the advert to celebrate its 40th anniversary, as the brand pledges to continue empowering women and people with periods across the nation.
Spokeswoman Ruth Gresty said: “The new lyrics represent where we are now with our brand, as well as how different things are for women now across the globe – a lot has changed since the original advert aired in the 1980s.
“Women are stronger, better represented, and reaching for their dreams. But there’s still work to do to have a voice, and to be treated with respect.
“We want to empower and inspire women and everyone experiencing their period with our new lyrics – we want everyone to feel confident and powerful, and fight against the taboos which have held them back for so long.”
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