Photo Credit: Britney Spears/Instagram
It’s been 6 years since Britney Spears has put out any music and not only has that changed but she’s more than exceeded expectations. She made her comeback with Friday with the assistance of music legend Elton John for an EDM track remaking his 1971 hit Tiny Dancer. The song also is her first Number One record since 2011. And it’s also Number One in a whopping 35 countries.
She made the announcement on Twitter Tuesday of the upcoming release saying, “Okie dokie … my first song in 6 years. It’s pretty damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time … Elton John!!!! I’m kinda overwhelmed… it’s a big deal to me !!! I’m meditating more and learning my space is valuable and precious!!!”
John gave a preview of the song at the La Guérite in Cannes, France which he shared on Instagram. He introduced the track saying, “OK, ‘Hold Me Closer.’ Britney Spears, Elton John … here we go!” It would have been nice for the two to preview it together for the public, but they didn’t actually meet to do the recording. Spears met with producer Andrew Watt to lay down her vocals and John gave his directions via Zoom.
Rolling Stone refers to this song’s release as The Glorious Rebirth of Britney Spears, adding “She is Risen!” John did, however share to The Guardian that Spears was hesitant to release the final product saying, “We had to get her to approve what she did. She’s been away so long – there’s a lot of fear there because she’s been betrayed so many times and she hasn’t really been in the public eye officially for so long. We’ve been holding her hand through the whole process, reassuring her that everything’s gonna be alright.”
“She sang fantastically,” John said. “Everyone was saying they don’t think she can sing any more. But I said, she was brilliant when she started so I think she can. And she did it, and I was so thrilled with what she did.”
Watt added, “The song meant so much to her, and you can hear it in her vocal performance. She’s singing her a** off. She’s unbelievable at layering her voice and doubling, which is one of the hardest things to do. She really pushed herself, vocally. Sometimes when you produce, the greatest thing in the world you can do is say nothing, so I just let her do her thing. She’s so good at knowing when she got the right take. She took complete control.”
John said that he really hopees this song will get Britney back to being… Britney saying, “I’m just crossing my fingers that this will restore her confidence in herself to get back into the studio, make more records, and realize that she is bloody good.”
“It’s hard when you’re young. Britney was broken. I was broken when I got sober. I was in a terrible place. I’ve been through that broken feeling and it’s horrible,” he shared. “And luckily enough, I’ve been sober for 32 years and it’s the happiest I’ve ever been. Now I’ve got the experience to be able to advise people and help them because I don’t want to see any artists in a dark place. A lot of artists, you’d think they’d have a lot of self-esteem but they don’t, and that’s why we go onstage and we get the applause, and then we come offstage and we’re back to square one.”
