New Britney Spears Music Is Dropping This Week
Britney Army is in for a treat! Six years after she released her last album, Glory, Britney Spears is set to release new music this week! The 40-year-old singer has teamed up with Elton John for a highly anticipated collaboration for a duet titled "Hold Me Closer," a reimagined version of John's 1971 classic "Tiny Dancer."
The duet was confirmed on Friday, Aug. 19 when John took to Instagram to tease the collaboration. In the post, John shared side-by-side images of a young Spears in a pink tutu and a younger version of himself sitting in front of a piano. A second image showed a more recent photo of the pair beaming for the camera at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards viewing party on Feb. 24, 2013. The famed musician captioned the post with the song title and release date, "August 26 [Hold Me Closer]," and a rocket ship emoji. John's fans know that the track's title, "Hold Me Closer," is pulled from lyrics from the original 1971 song, in which he sings, "Hold me closer, tiny dancer" in the chorus.
The Friday update came just weeks after reports first surfaced that the musical pair was set to collaborate. Although exact details of the collaboration were unclear and unconfirmed at the time, Page Six reported in late July that Spears and John met up at a Beverly Hills recording studio the week prior to work on a new take of "Tiny Dancer" to be released by Universal Music.
A music industry source told the outlet that "this was Elton's idea, and Britney is a huge fan. They have recorded a remix of 'Tiny Dancer' as a full duet – and it is incredible. Britney was in the studio in Beverly Hills last week with Elton for the super-secret recording session overseen by uber-producer Andrew Watt." A second source claimed the track had already been played for those at Universal Music, who were said to be "freaking out" over how "good" it is and "saying this is going to be the song of the summer. Britney is officially back. She's back to work, and she's super excited."
It has been six years since Spears released an album, with her most recent album, Glory, having dropped back in 2016. In 2020, she did release a deluxe edition that included a never-before-heard collaboration between Spears and the Backstreet Boys titled "Matches." Since the end of her conservatorship in November 2021, however, Spears has been making plenty of career moves, including beginning work on her memoir. News that new music is on the way was met with plenty of excitement, with one fan writing, "Can't wait for Britney to return!!" Another person commented on John's post, "Welcome back legendary Miss Britney Spears."