Elton John and Britney Spears have confirmed that they’ll be releasing a new song, Hold Me Closer, on an as-yet-unspecified date.
The title indicates that this will be a rework of 1971 hit Tiny Dancer (‘Hold me closer’ is a key lyric in said song), possibly in the vein of Cold Heart (Pnau remix), the massively successful collaboration between John and Dua Lipa that was released in 2021.
This features elements of John’s hits Sacrifice, Rocket Man and Kiss the Bride, and also Where’s the Shoorah?, a 1976 album track.
Whether Pnau are involved this time remains to be seen, but they have a long history of reworking Elton John’s back catalogue, releasing a whole album of material, Good Morning To The Light, back in 2012.
Pnau are a three-person production team from Australia featuring Nick Littlemore, Peter Mayes and Sam Littlemore. Nick Littlemore is also one half of Empire of the Sun, who he founded with The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele.
The release will mark Spears’ return to the music industry following the termination of her conservatorship in 2021. Her most recent album, Glory, was released in 2016.