Britney Spears’ highly anticipated musical collaboration with Elton John is dropping next Friday, marking the first time she has released new music since a judge terminated her controversial conservatorship last year.
The single will be a new version of John’s 1972 classic “Tiny Dancer” entitled “Hold Me Closer,” borrowing a lyric from the original song for the name.
John first confirmed the collaboration earlier this month and shared the release date Friday in an Instagram post showing childhood photos of the duo.
The release will be the first time Spears has put out music since the 2016 release of her ninth studio album, “Glory,” which critics praised as one of her best albums in years.
But up until recently, Spears hinted on social media that she might be done with her career for a while, saying her parents “ruined the thrill” of the music business for her. She suggested she might take a 10-year break to spite her family and their role in the conservatorship she pushed for years to terminate.
“Not doing music anymore is my way of saying ‘Fuck You’ in a sense when it only actually benefits my family,” Spears wrote in a December 2021 Instagram post.
Fans have been eager to see if Spears, whose life and career were tightly controlled during the 13-year conservatorship helmed by her father, will reveal different vocal stylings on her single with John. Last month, she posted a video to Instagram of her signing in a deeper, fuller voice reminiscent of some of her childhood performances.
“I haven’t shared my voice in an extremely long time, maybe too long, and here’s me playing at my house with a different version of ‘Baby,’” she wrote, referencing her debut 1998 single ”…Baby One More Time.”
At least one person has heard the upcoming single and shared a very positive review.
“It’s gonna be iconic,” Paris Hilton, one of Spears’ friends, said earlier this month. “I just heard it a couple days ago in Ibiza and it is … it’s insane.”
