Elton John And Brandi Carlile Team Up For New Album ‘Who Believes In Angels?’

He might have completed his final tour in 2023, but legendary musician Elton John isn’t stepping back from the spotlight any time soon. For his latest project, the “I’m Still Standing” singer has teamed up with country star Brandi Carlile for the new collaborative album Who Believes in Angels? out now.

The album musically represents an amalgamation of both John’s and Carlile’s sounds, blending Carlile’s folk and country sensibilities with John’s signature brand of pop. It paid off in spades for both artists, but it didn’t come without its share of difficulties throughout the process.

“This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made, but it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. It has given me a place where I know I can move forward,” John said of the LP, per Stereogum. “Who Believes In Angels? feels like going into another era and I’m pushing the door open to come into the future. I have everything I’ve done behind me, and it’s been brilliant, amazing. But this is the new start for me. As far as I’m concerned, this is the start of my career Mark 2.”

He expanded further on that identity crisis in an interview with Billboard earlier this week. “Nobody wants another Elton John album like the other 35 [I’ve made]

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,” he said. “This one had to have energy, and it had to have a statement saying, ‘Listen, I’m nearly 78 and I’m gonna be really sounding powerful,’ and that’s what I wanted.”

He also extended that mindset to Carlile’s creative tendencies in the studio. “I know she can write those beautiful Americana songs like she’s done on all her albums,” he said. “I love those things, but I wanted to push her to say, ‘Hey, you’re capable of doing so much more and varying stuff, because there’s nothing you cannot do.’”

Carlile, for her part, counts the experience of working with John as one of the most valuable experiences of her life. “I’m still reeling from the fact that I got to do it,” she confessed. “I think all ships rise with Elton John’s standards for songwriting, and it was an incredibly challenging and inspiring environment to work in, everybody throwing in ideas, everybody listening to everybody else’s ideas. It felt like a family.”