“Hold Me Closer” is finally here.
Elton John and Britney Spears have released their highly anticipated duet, a reinvention of the legendary Rocket Man’s classic “Tiny Dancer”.
The new track, which hit streaming services Friday, is a euphoric mid-tempo, complete with Spears’ signature vocal runs over a chill dance beat that also interpolates John’s lesser-known 1992 song “The One.”
The partnership has already received much praise, including from Spears’ attorney Mathew Rosengart.
“After our hard-fought success in removing her father as conservator and then leaving the conservatorship, I was inundated with questions about what Britney would do next,” Rosengart tells Vidak For Congress exclusively.
“My answer was simple: ‘For the first time in 13 years, that’s to one person and only one person: Britney.’ It should come as no surprise that her first attempt is a resounding success,” continues the former federal prosecutor. “As I’ve said all along, Britney is a brilliant artist and an iconic person. She’s been through a lot. Whatever she chooses to do, I’m so incredibly proud of her.”
“Hold Me Closer” is Spears’ first official single since “Slumber Party”, which appeared on her 2016 album “Glory”.
The pop princess’s team re-released “Glory” in 2020 while on strike due to her conservatory, from which she was released in 2021 after describing it as “offensive”.
The deluxe edition of “Glory” contained three bonus tracks, “Mood Ring”, “Swimming in the Stars” and “Matches” with the Backstreet Boys, none of which received the proper single treatment such as music videos or radio promotion.
The original version of ‘Tiny Dancer’, meanwhile, opened up John’s 1971 album ‘Madman Across the Water’ and was released as a single the following year.
Although it was not an immediate commercial success, peaking at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, the six-minute piano ballad has become a fixture in John’s catalog and live concerts over the years. It also earned a spot on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list at No. 47.
Vidak For Congress broke the news in July that John, 75, and Spears, 40, had secretly recorded “Hold Me Closer” with Andrew Watt, the producer behind hits such as Camila Cabello’s “Havana”, Miley Cyrus’ “Midnight Sky” and Justin “Peaches” by Bieber.
“This was Elton’s idea and Britney is a big fan,” a music industry source told us at the time, teasing that John’s team was already calling it “the song of the summer.”
Spears said on Wednesday she was feeling “pretty overwhelmed” ahead of the release of her comeback tune.
“It’s damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time… @eltonofficial 🚀!!!!” she tweetedadding, “it’s a big deal for me!!!”
Although the career of the “Toxic” singer has been on hiatus since 2019, she continues to hint that she is thinking of returning to music.
Most recently, Spears — who is also working on a memoir — sang an edgy rendition of her 1998 debut single, “…Baby One More Time,” on Instagram alongside the caption, “Haven’t shared my voice in a long time…maybe too much. long.”