Britney Spears is back with her first newly recorded song since the Glory era, and it’s a duet with Elton John.
“Hold Me Closer” is a spin on John’s 1971 classic “Tiny Dancer.” The updated track was produced by Andrew Watt.
John announced the single’s release date in an Instagram post that featured a split image of Spears and himself as children.
Spears responded to John with her own Instagram post. “You can bet your bottom dollar that THIS collaboration will heighten my year by joining your brilliant hands of play,” she wrote.
“Thank you for your generosity and just thinking of me to join you on such a brilliant song! How cool is it to be a background voice ON YOUR song! Sir Elton I did it thanks to your genius, creative, and legendary mind!”
In 2020, Spears released a handful of singles recorded around her 2016 album, Glory, but “Hold Me Closer” marks her return to the studio and official comeback after her fight for freedom from a conservatorship overseen by her father, James “Jamie” Spears, since 2008.
She married the actor Sam Asghari in June this year. The previous month, she mourned the loss of her “miracle baby” with Asghari.