Britney Spears (40) gave a small preview of ‘Hold Me Closer’ on Wednesday, the single she will release on Friday with Elton John (75). You can clearly hear how the song is not only an arrangement of John’s hit ‘Tiny Dancer’ from 1972, but also ‘The One’ from 1992.
“How cool is it to be a background voice on your song!”
John also used a similar construction for ‘Cold Heart’, the mega hit he made last year with Dua Lipa. For this he used ‘Sacrifice’ from 1989, ‘Rocket Man’ from 1972 and ‘Kiss The Bride’ from 1983. It is not yet clear whether ‘Hold Me Closer’ contains even more links to John’s oeuvre.
For Britney, the song marks her official comeback. It is the first time that the singer has released music since she is no longer under the guardianship of her father. Her latest album, Glory , was released in 2016.
In her Instagram post, Britney writes that the collaboration is one of the highlights of the year. “Thank you for your generosity and for thinking of me to join you on such a brilliant song,” she says to John. “How cool is it to be a background voice to your song!”
Britney is selling herself short, John thinks. “You’re much more than a backing singer, sweetheart. I can’t wait for everyone to hear what we’ve been up to all this time,” he said in the comments.
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Britney Spears thanks Elton John for collaborating on their duet Hold Me Closer, coming out tomorrow at midnight! pic.twitter.com/0cPoTXpyw0
— Britney Stan 💕 (HMC 8/26) (@BritneyTheStan) August 24, 2022