Elton John, 75, was “worried” Britney Spears, 40, would not be ready to record the remix of his smash 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer”, “Hold Me Closer”, he revealed in a Sept. 1 interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe. “I think she was very reticent at first, because I think she was nervous, but she went in the studio in Los Angeles. I was in England, she went in the studio with Andrew Watt, who’s my friend and producer,” he explained. However, he said Britney got back into the groove of things “so well and so easily.”
He continued, “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.”
A person close to the “Toxic” singer previously revealed to HollywoodLife that Britney was in no rush to release music, including her Elton collaboration, because she wanted to be fully confident in her work before giving it to the world. “Britney is a huge perfectionist when it comes to her music so until she feels the song is 100% ready, she’s not going to drop it,” they revealed to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY in mid-August. “There is a ton riding on it,” they added. “She wants this to hit it out of the park and everyone that heard the song says it’s amazing.”
Furthermore, a separate source close to the Louisiana-born global superstar said Elton was a key factor in helping her break out of her shell and warm up to the recording studio once again. “She felt like she was rusty when they started recording, but it came back to her naturally and Elton helped to bring out her best and it is possibly the best she has ever sounded,” they told HL EXCLUSIVELY. “Hold Me Closer” is Britney’s first release since her 2016 album, Glory.
Elton also told Zane that while the collaboration is based on his song, he was excited about it because it was “all about” Britney. “I’m really happy for Britney, especially because having her on this record is such a gas, for start, 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,” he explained. “And it couldn’t go to a better cause than her at the moment. And it’s been a really hard time for her over the last few years. And she hadn’t really made any music since 2016, so it’s all about her for me.”
Britney certainly felt the love on the song’s release day, which fell on Aug. 26. In fact, she was so excited about the song’s success that she posted a video of herself relaxing in a bathtub and taking it all in. “Hello, Sir Elton John, we are like number one in 40 countries,” she said with a bewildered look on her face while having a go at a British accent. “Holy s—t! I’m in the tub right now and I’m about to go have the best day ever, and I hope you’re well.”
Luckily for fans, the pair isn’t done with the song, yet. HollywoodLife learned EXCLUSIVELY that Britney and the “Rocket Man” singer are working on a “huge production” for the project. “Britney and her team have discussed this video with Elton, and they have had meetings about it,” an insider revealed. “But nothing has been formulated, yet, in terms of a storyline, and /or concept. Of course, it is going to be a huge production, but Britney is now ready for this.”