Elton John Says His Britney Spears Collaboration ‘Hold Me Closer’ Is ‘All About Her’
Elton John had nothing but good things to say about collaborating with Britney Spears on their new single “Hold Me Closer.”
“I’m really happy for Britney, especially because having her on this record is such a gas, for start,” he said in a Thursday (Sept. 1) interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “But this is someone who has been through hell, who needed some love in her life, a lot of love from a lot of people, and she’s getting it.
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“And she hadn’t really made any music since 2016, so it’s all about her for me,” the pop legend continued. “Life unfolds on an incredible speed, and I don’t know what will happen, but I’m so thrilled this is happening because I love the record. I love the fact that it’s ‘Tiny Dancer’ because it’s one of my favorite songs. I’m a lucky man. Listen, what can I say? The record’s taken off. Seventy-five years of age and having the time of my life, and it proves that you can still be modern and be old at the same time if you care to take an interest in what’s going on.”
Still, Sir Elton dished that the pop princess was initially “nervous” about heading back into the recording studio for the first time in more than half a decade, but he set her up with Andrew Watt at a studio in Los Angeles and waited for the magic to happen.
“She did it so well and so easily,” he said. “And I’m sure a lot of people thought, ‘Well, can she still sing?’ Well, I knew for a start that she could sing because if you go back and look at the old footage, she was the biggest artist in the world and she could sing, she could dance, she could do everything. So I wasn’t worried about that. What I was worried about is if she would be so nervous because she hadn’t done it for a while, but she came through it with flying colors.”
And while John revealed that the two have yet to catch up privately since the song dropped, it seems Spears couldn’t be happier with how “Hold Me Closer” turned out. From sending sweet video messages back and forth with pal Drew Barrymore to posting about the song on social media, she’s been reveling in her return to the musical spotlight.
However, Spears also has more on her mind than just her recent success. Over the weekend, she posted an unfiltered, 22-minute voice memo on YouTube about her life post-conservatorship and the heartbreaking impact the 13-year legal control over her life has taken on her mental health, self-confidence and relationship with her family.
