The American diva is back.
Britney Spears resurfaced on the front of the stage on Friday, releasing a duet with Elton John.
The single,
Hold Me Closer,
is the singer's first production in six years and since the lifting of her conservatorship last November.
Performed in Cannes preview by Elton John, the track is a club-dance cover of
Tiny Dancer,
one of the key tracks from the album
Madman Across the Water
, released in 1971 by the British pop legend.
Elements of
The One
and
Don't Go Breaking My Heart,
two other tracks by Elton John also pepper the song.
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There's not much left in
Hold Me Closer,
the touching ballad of 1971. Chopped up in a radio format, sprinkled with a beat reminiscent of the first season of
Loft Story
and a greasy reverb, the song seems to pastiche a bundle of vain summer hits from the 2000s. The sulphurous interpreter of
Toxic
and
Womanizer
, now 40 years old, slips her doctored voice as close as possible to that of Elton John, without risking to pull the cover to herself , apart from timid interjections.
Hence the title
Hold Me Closer
?
“After hearing the first version of the single earlier this summer, Elton John knew that Britney's instantly recognizable voice was the perfect touch to bring the song to life
,” reads a press release issued at the launch of the single.
"I'm absolutely thrilled to have had the chance to work with Britney Spears
," Elton John said earlier this week.
She is truly an icon, one of the greatest pop stars of all time."
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The convalescent artist, she said she was satisfied with this painful return to the front of the stage.
“My first song in six years!
It's so damn cool to sing with one of the most classic men of our time.
I feel a little overwhelmed…”
, said Britney Spears on Twitter, Thursday evening.
In an interview granted Friday for the British daily newspaper
The Guardian
, Elton John confided some details on this collaboration as musical as psychological.
“It's difficult when you're young.
Britney was broken
, he said.
I have the experience to advise people and help them, because I don't want to see other artists go down that way."
In November Britney Spears, who rose to stardom as a teenager with her 1998 debut hit
… Baby One More Time
, was freed from the legal guardianship that had controlled her personal life and finances for thirteen years.
His father Jamie Spears, who had requested this legal arrangement in 2008, was removed from his position as guardian in September.
He said his only goal was to help his daughter rehabilitate her career after she suffered from depression in 2007 and that he had always acted in her best interests.
In December, the singer had let it be known that she was not yet ready to return to music.
Her last studio album,
Glory
, was released in 2016.
