Britney Spears has returned to the studio for the first time in six years for a duet with her favorite singer, Elton John. He invited her to sing with him Hold Me Closera very self-tuned remix of one of his hits (the classic Tiny Dancer, dated 1971), released this Friday, August 26. Produced by Andrew Watt, 31, Hold Me Closerwhich has everything to be one of the anthems of the new school year, marks the official comeback of the singer since the end of the controversial guardianship exercised mainly by her father, Jamie Spears, pronounced at the end of 2021.
Elton John is a longtime fan of Britney Spears. “She’s released some incredibly good records.” and “she sang and danced so well“, he underlines in the Guardian. “It’s hard when you’re young. Britney was broken. I was broke too when I got sober (he has been sober for 32 years editor’s note). I was at my worst. I know that feeling all too well and it’s horrible.” explains the “Rocketman”, known for reaching out to struggling artists, from George Michael to Robbie Williams or more recently Sam Fender, Little Simz and Oliver Sim. “I’m Uncle Elton. They can call me.”
The author of Candle in the Wind75, hopes this duo, which her husband David Furnish suggested to her, will give Britney Spears “much more confidence than she has now, and that she will realize that people love her, care about her and want her to be happy“, after the traumatic years that she has gone through, he confides to the Guardian. “I’m crossing my fingers that (…) she goes back to the studio, makes more records, and realizes that she’s damn good.“
Never short of little bursts of happiness, Sir Elton John, on vacation on the French Riviera, could not resist presenting the song in preview from the middle of the week, in a beach restaurant, La Guérite, on Sainte-Marguerite Island in the Bay of Cannes. As seen in the video below, he sits down next to the DJ, picks up the mic, and starts singing along to Hold Me Closerin front of the crowd of excited summer visitors, brandishing their smartphones and sending him “I love you“….
“Thank you for your generosity and for thinking of me to join you on such an awesome song!!! How cool to be a voice on YOUR song!!! (…) I am so grateful to you!!!“, reacted for her part, Britney Spears on Instagram. An account that she decided to deactivate on Friday, assuring on Twitter “Yes, I choose happiness today. Every day I try to forget the hurts and the bitterness (…) I want to be fearless like when I was younger.“