Elton John teases snippet of new Britney Spears collaboration
‘Hold Me Closer’ is a fresh take on John's 1971 hit ‘Tiny Dancer’, set to arrive Friday
Elton John has offered a teaser of his new single with Britney Spears, ‘Hold Me Closer’, performing a snippet for diners at a restaurant in Cannes, France.
The forthcoming release, out Friday (26 August), will be Spears’ first new single since the termination of her conservatorship last year. It’s also her first release since her label dropped a deluxe edition of her 2016 LP Glory in 2020.
In a video posted to John’s social media captioned “Sneak peak of Hold Me Closer”, the singer played the track and sang from a DJ booth at La Guérite restaurant.
The song appears to be a new dance music take on John’s 1971 hit ‘Tiny Dancer’, which begins with Spears singing lines from his 1992 song ‘The One’, similar to his 2021 Number one Single ‘Cold Heart’ with Dua Lipa and PNAU, which interpolated his 1972 track ‘Rocket Man’.
Check out the snippet below.
The cover art for the single features side-by-side childhood pictures of Spears and John.
Spears, who married her longtime partner Sam Asghari in early June, recently shared a clip that features her singing her pop hit ‘Baby One More Time’ a cappella. “I haven’t shared my voice in an extremely long time … maybe too long,” she captioned the video, adding that she’s been pushing for releasing a new version of the track for some time.
Meanwhile, last month Elton John warned that upcoming artists face huge challenges in post-Brexit EU tours.
John, who has been previously vocal on the issue, delivered a fresh statement to an inquiry of cross-party MPs and other figures who are urging the government to “tear down the barriers” of costs and red tape that has arisen for touring artists post-Brexit.
In a statement, Elton said: “The government has had a golden opportunity to fix the problem while COVID was closing down touring.
While some progress has been made that opportunity has been allowed to slip. The heartbeat and future of our vibrant industry face finding themselves stranded in Dover through no fault of their own.”