Britney Spears and Elton John are loving how much people around the world are loving their new song, “Hold Me Closer.”
“Hello, Sir Elton John. We are, like, No. 1 in 40 countries,” Spears said, with an English accent, in a video she posted Friday on Twitter. “Holy s**t!”
Spears said she was in the bathtub and “about to go have the best day ever.”
— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) August 26, 2022
The pop star followed up with a video, set to “Hold Me Closer,” that shows her strutting through a building and ending up sitting naked on a window sill. She captioned it: “Keep smiling folks … KEEP SMILING !!! Psss I LOVE YOU ALL !!!”
John shared Spears’ video on Instagram and replied: “Hey Britney!! Thank you for this message. You’ve made my day!! Hope everyone has the best day dancing to our song!”
Spears recorded her vocals for the song in California while John was on tour (his original “Tiny Dancer” vocals were used) so the two stars have not seen each other. John is currently on vacation in France ahead of two shows in Toronto.
Earlier, John shared on social media that he was “thrilled” with the response to the song. “I wanted to do a fun, happy summer track so was ecstatic when @britneyspears agreed to be a part of it!,” he wrote. “She truly is an icon, one of the all-time great pop stars & I love her dearly. I hope you all love it!”
“Hold Me Closer” is a reimagining of John’s 1971 classic “Tiny Dancer” that kicks off with the first verse of his 1992 song “The One” and interpolates a bit of 1976's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart.” The track was produced by Andrew Watt and Canada’s Cirkut (aka Toronto-born, Nova Scotia-raised Henry Walter).
The single comes exactly six years to the day after Spears released her most recent album, Glory.