Ella Henderson says she was panicking about approaching Roger Sanchez to work with him on her new song, Dream On Me.
The 24-year-old pop star unleashed her new tune on Friday and those with a keen music ear will hear elements of Roger’s iconic 2001 single Another Chance amid Ella’s powerful vocals.
Ella says Another Chance has always been one of her favourite songs and she was desperate to sample elements of the track for her own single.
But working with the music of her music hero left the star slightly anxious that he might refuse to work with her on it – and snuff out her dance track dreams.
Ella told Metro: “My favourite producer, Jordan Riley, stripped the song apart and sampled a bit of it.I wrote it and thought, ‘I need to get this signed off by Roger.’
“He could have been so massively insulted we would even touch Another Chance! Thank God he was like, ‘I love it!’”
Meanwhile, Ella says she has happy memories of dancing around to the original song when it was first released – when she was just a five-year-old child.
She gushed: “I loved that song. It was an era of them kind of records that have space for big vocalists.
”I remember the video of that person on the Tube with a massive heart!”
Roger himself has praised Ella as the tune was released.
Taking to social media on Friday, he hailed Ella as "brilliant" and previously described the British singer as "wonderful".
Ella explained more about the meaning behind the song on her own Instagram revealing it was influenced by not being able to hang out with those she loves during lockdown.
She wrote: "I wrote this song about missing people who I love and dreaming about being with them.
"It's been a ridiculous summer for all of us and I hope this song makes you dance and feel close to the people you love!"
