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Elton John admits he ‘broke down’ considering his mortality on new album

5 February 2025, 17:20 | Updated: 5 February 2025, 17:29

By Hannah Watkin

Elton John and Brandi Carlile are releasing a joint album Who Believes In Angels? this year, hot off the continued success of their Oscar-nominated single ‘Never Too Late’.

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Sir Elton John has admitted working on his and Brandi Carlile’s new album was an emotional experience which sometimes brought him to tears.

Speaking exclusively with Smooth’s Angie Greaves about Who Believes In Angels, the ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and ‘The Story’ singers shared several stories about the “magical” three weeks they spent working on the new album.

Watch the exclusive interview below.

Elton John and Brandi Carlile on their new album 'Who Believes In Angels?'

“I broke down”

Discussing Elton's only solo track on the album: ‘When This Old World Is Done With Me’, the ‘Rocketman’ artist revealed that the lyrics, which reflect on death and mortality, moved him to tears as he took to the piano to try and compose music for the song.

“I got to the chorus... it’s on tape, I just broke down for about 45 minutes,” the singer revealed.

“I’m getting up there in age and I think about my husband and my children,” Elton continued. “It just touched a nerve with me.”

Elton John opened up about his mortality in the interview. Picture: Getty

While the music icon was quick to comfort fans that he’s “not thinking of dying anytime soon,” he also reflected openly: “But it was just something I had to come to terms with, and it was just the most beautiful lyric.”

Work on Who Believes In Angels? came about from Elton and Brandi’s years-long friendship which led to the younger musician writing the closing song for Elton’s 2024 Disney+ documentary Never Too Late.

This single, which gave the documentary its name and was recently nominated for a Best Song Oscar, also gave rise to the pair finally getting together to work on something bigger with each other.

Brandi Carlile and Elton John have been friends for many years. Picture: Getty

“One of the most magical experiences of my life.”

“I’ve always wanted to make a record with Brandi ever since I've known her,” Elton explained.

Finally, in October 2023 this opportunity came together, and just three weeks later after “starting with nothing,” the pair were walking out of the studio with an album and an understandably huge spring in their steps.

Elton called the music-making experience “one of the most magical experiences of my life,” meanwhile for Brandi, working with her greatest musical inspiration was “unbelievably surreal” and rewarding.

Watch the trailer for Elton John - Never Too Late

“[Elton John and Bernie Taupin] altered the course of my entire life,” the 43-year-old singer-songwriter gushed.

“It wasn’t just piano or even songwriting,” she continued, describing how Elton and Bernie’s work inspired her 11-year-old self. “It was all of it – even my worldview.

“To make an album with Elton feels kind of mystical and surreal,” she added.

Thankfully for Brandi, the speed in which the album came together meant there wasn’t enough time to get properly starstruck or overly nervous about collaborating with her heroes.

“I didn’t really have time to sit down and be scared... you just have to get on with it, and then everything you’ve learned musically it either flies or it crashes,” she reflected.

Elton John's husband and kids wave him goodbye on his final live show

Heroes and villains

Who Believes In Angels? soars, drawing on both of Sir Elton and Brandi’s unique song-writing talents while also paying tribute to some of the pair’s other musical inspirations.

These tracks, specifically ‘The Rose Of Laura Nyro’ and ‘Little Richard’s Bible’, became even more meaningful to the duo due to two stunning coincidences which saw Elton and Brandi record and mix the songs on the birthdays of the stars who had inspired them.

“It was really mystical,” Brandi and Elton agreed.

Moving moments like these twists of fate helped bring Elton, Brandi and the album’s whole musical team together – an achievement the ‘Crocodile Rock’ singer was the first to admit he didn’t make easy at first.

Describing his early time in the studio as “bumpy” and “antagonistic”, Sir Elton continued: “I was in a bad place. I was tired, I was irritable, I was full of self-doubt; and I put everyone through the wringer for the first five days.”

But after recording a few tracks including ‘The Rose Of Laura Nyro’, studio life improved exponentially.

“[After] we’d done two or three tracks and I knew we were on the right path, I completely relaxed,” he described.

Who Believes In Angels? soars, drawing on both of Sir Elton and Brandi’s unique song-writing talents. Picture: Getty

The definitive song

Brandi and Elton’s resulting record features several “up-tempo” songs like ‘The Rose Of Laura Nyro’ and ‘Swinging For The Fences’ which the 77-year-old teases people won’t expect from either artist.

The pair are particularly proud of their single and the album’s title track, ‘Who Believes In Angels?’, with Brandi describing it as “the definitive” song for summing up the pair’s special creative friendship.

Hearing her childhood icon turned creative partner compose ‘Who Believes In Angels?’ was an emotional moment for the ‘Party Of One’ singer.

“Musically it tapped into a vein of Elton John’s writing that is so identifiably and quintessentially Elton,” she gushed. “Mixed with my lyrics, it’s the realisation of my dream.”

“We got it right. It’s about the power of two people’s talent, and two people’s love for each other,” Elton added. “How much we love each other is in that song... it’s just so powerful, it moves me every time I hear it.”

Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s joint album Who Believes in Angels? will be released April 4, 2025. The title single, ‘Who Believes In Angels?’, is out now.