“Taste,” Or: Sophie Ellis-Bextor Offers a Taurus Anthem to Rival Sabrina Carpenter’s (An Actual Taurus) Song of the Same Name

Although herself an Aries (and also married to one), Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s latest single from the cleverly-titled Perimenopop, “Taste,” is nothing short of an anthem for Tauruses. Hence, not so coincidentally being released during the height of Taurus season: May 9th. Otherwise known as: two days before Sabrina Carpenter’s birthday. Better known as: the singer that brought audiences “Taste” back in August of 2024. Although technically the third single from Short n’ Sweet, it felt like the true “first” one of the record. Not just because it was released the same day, but because “Espresso” came out so many months before it and “Please Please Please,” her second single (and first number one hit), was totally antithetical to the Taurean desire to always be right. What’s more, Carpenter chose to kick off the album with “Taste” as track one for a reason. Establishing a theme of irreverence and self-assurance as she declares, “Oh I leave quite an impression/Five feet, to be exact.” And yet, despite being so “small,” Carpenter packs a punch in terms of leaving an indelible imprint—literally and metaphorically—on the guy she used to be with. 

Indeed, that’s what “Taste” is all about. Making her essence linger in every way—especially gustatorially—for the next girl who gets with her ex to be haunted by. So it is that flexes, “Now I’m gone, but you’re still layin’/Next to me, one degree of separation/I heard you’re back together and if that’s true/You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you.” And yet, despite being a song that’s titled in honor of a Taurus’ favorite sense (apart from sight), Carpenter doesn’t address the kind of taste that really pleases a Taurus: that which is related to food. This task is, instead, left up to Sophie Ellis-Bextor on her own “Taste.”  

While Ellis-Bextor also refers to “taste” in a manner that suggests, well, the taste of one’s body (and/or fluids), she not only alludes to it in terms of that taste belonging to the person she’s in love with (or at least infatuated with), but also by comparing it to specific flavors. For example, “Just like citrus on my tongue/You know you’ve got it/Wake my senses like no one/You’ve got it.” The disco-fied backbeat, courtesy of producer Jon Shave (who also co-wrote with Ellis-Bextor and MNEK), adds to the frothy levity of a track that’s all about chemistry (or what Carpenter prefers to call “Bed Chem,” which limits attraction solely to the sexual and lusty). And part of cultivating chemistry beyond a physical level is sharing common interests with the person in question. Or, better still, being “turned on” to new interests by that person as a result of their, you guessed it, tastes.

Ellis-Bextor herself remarked that she wanted “to write a playful, flirtatious pop song about chemistry. What can really make you want to be around someone is when their taste, what they like in life, is something you become addicted to. You want to experience all delights with them and share it with them as everything they introduce you to feels just right. All your senses feel alive and awake—like the full flavor of life is realized.” There’s no denying that such a song must have been easy for her to write based on her marriage to The Feeling bassist Richard Jones, who once commented of his relationship with Ellis-Bextor, “…something kind of smacked us in the face. The chemistry was incredible—it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.” 

As for the “full flavor of life” Ellis-Bextor was talking about, it’s the kind that a Taurus adores/can’t resist. And one that is explored by Ellis-Bextor in a cooking metaphor verse like, “Baby, I don’t know what goes into your recipe/It just works for me/You’ve got it/Maybe I won’t analyze your sweet complexity/Leave it mystery/You’ve got it.”

The lyric video for the single is accordingly filled with food icons (ice cream, popsicles, pineapples, heart-shaped orange slices, bananas, pickles [or what the British call gherkins]), drink icons (milk and, at one point, imagery of some champagne flowing) and puns. A veritable feast for the taste and sight-oriented senses that the average Taurus is so easily charmed by. That Ellis-Bextor frames it all around the concept of falling hopelessly in love with someone also heightens the idea of it being a Taurus anthem. For the sign is famously ruled by Venus, goddess of love and all things pleasure-oriented—including (and especially) food. The simple but effective chorus is complemented by the image of a wheel spinning so that it lands on a certain flavor (e.g., “Velvet Vanilla,” “Lime After Midnight,” “Gherkin Fantasy” and “Peach Please”) as Ellis-Bextor sings, “Taste, your taste/Every flavor I love/You’ve got it.”

But that’s not the only visual accompaniment that Ellis-Bextor felt obliged to create for this single. There’s also the “visualizer” (which, more and more, just feels like a not entirely realized music video), featuring Ellis-Bextor in a setup that looks as though she’s mugging for one of Andy Warhol’s screen tests. This includes licking various varietals of popsicles while outfitted like a 70s-era housewife about to go to a swingers night at one of her neighbors’ houses. 

In between licking these popsicles, Ellis-Bextor displays her ecstasy and euphoria over these various tastes in a way that Carpenter never bothered to for any of the visuals related to her “Taste,” least of all the Death Becomes Her-inspired video. Which is somewhat ironic considering that, as a Taurus, one might have assumed that Carpenter would have jumped on the chance to be more literal with the word, opting to incorporate the presence of various food groups. Or even drink types, like Ellis-Bextor also does in the visualizer. To be sure, she gives Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) in Babygirl a run for her money on milk-drinking at one point. 

She even adds in more taste profiles in another verse of the song by describing, “Spice of life felt twice the fun/You know you’ve got it/Wake my senses like no one.” So now listeners have citrusy and spicy on their mind, conjuring those very tastes up as they hear the song. An undeniable banger, regardless of whether you’re enjoying it on the dance floor or while actually eating…food or otherwise.