In November 2017, she announced via Facebook a selection of her greatest hits reworked with an orchestra. In February 2018, she announced the album's title, "The Song Diaries", and pointed out that it would consist of re-recorded tracks spanning her career from theaudience to "Familia"'s "Wild Forever", plus a new track. The album's artwork was drawn by David Downtown. "The Song Diaries" first single "Love Is You", a disco track originally performed by Carol Williams, which is sampled on her early hit "Groovejet", was released in August 2018. In the following months Ellis-Bextor further released the reworked versions of "Take Me Home", "Murder on the Dancefloor" and "A Pessimist is Never Disappointed". "The Song Diaries" was released in March 2019 and peaked at number 14 in the UK.