Elton John Shares Excitement for Upcoming Album

and 1980’s 21 At 33. They all have their bright spots but were largely dismissed by critics and fans. However, 1981’s The Fox marked a creative resurgence, highlighted by the hit “Nobody Wins.” Still, his early ‘80s records – Jump Up, Too Low for Zero, and Breaking Hearts – weren’t particularly inspiring. He changed labels and seemed to find a fresh creative spark with 1988’s Reg Strikes Back and then the release of Sleeping With the Past in 1989. The latter was a huge hit in the U.S. but, like the two albums that followed it – 1992’s The One and 1993’s Duets – they didn’t do much for me. 

In 1995, John released Made in England, his first U.K. number one album in 21 years; it was followed by 1997’s The Big Picture. Since then, I’ve liked some songs here and there – “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore,” “Are You Ready for Love,” and “I Want Love” among them – but nothing that’s made me buy a new Elton John album upon its release. 

His 22nd studio album, Wonderful Crazy Night, was released in 2016 and marked a really strong creative period for him. It was followed by the Rocketman soundtrack two years later which, of course, was music that he’d recorded in the ’70s re-interpreted by another artist. 

So why am I excited about his new album? Well, since the beginning of the year, Elton John has been releasing snippets of old songs, and the album’s title track, “Regimental Sgt. Zippo,” has a fire and passion reminiscent of his earlier classics like “Pinball Wizard” and “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” 

“I’m excited about the new album,” John says. “I’ve been working on it for over a year now, and Brandi Carlile has brought so much to the table. I’m really proud of it, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.” 

Carlile first met John in Los Angeles around 2016 after the birth of her daughter Evangeline. “I speak from personal experience, I will definitely say that Elton’s a real one,” she tells. “He immediately educated me on how much waiting comes with like, the most important things and the best things and the things that are worth the most.” 

Carlile keeps revisiting that conversation when talking about working on the album with John. “Elton’s music is a source of joy for me, it is a source of contemplation and meditation,” she notes, “and if we get lucky, we’ll get to live in that again.”

I don’t know when the album is coming out, but I’ll be listening. “It’s made me feel like a kid: this feeling of joy that is, like, unburdened by anything that I’ve done before,” Carlile says. “It comes out in the music, it comes out in those glorious, wonderful harmonies in the background. It’s taught me so much, and it’s just shown me the power of music for me personally and not just the role that I play in it, but the role that it plays in me.”

I can’t wait to hear the new Elton John album. The songs might make me feel like a kid again. Or maybe, better yet, they’ll make me feel like a kid with a copy of Elton John’s Greatest Hits in his hand in front of a black light poster. Elton John. Brandi Carlile. That’s a dream team.