Elton John has announced a new album with Brandi Carlile, titled Who Believes in Angels? It will be released on April 4.
Ahead of that, the album’s title track has been released. You can listen to it, plus view a complete track listing, below.
At the album’s core is John and Carlile, plus John’s longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin and producer/co-writer Andrew Watt. They were backed in the studio by Chad Smith, Pino Palladino and Josh Klinghoffer. It was made in just 20 days total.
“I’m 76 and I want to do something different,” John said in a promotional trailer for the album. “I don’t want to coast.”
“It wasn’t easy,” Carlile added, “which is a place where such great music came from.”
A Long Time Coming
John spoke about the album in the fall of 2023 when he inducted Taupin into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“We’ve just finished an album in Los Angeles,” he said at the podium, “which is going to surprise the shit out of you — oh I can’t swear! And it’s absolutely wonderful. It’s full of youth and it’s full of vitality, and it’s a wonderful place to be after we’ve been together for 56 years.”
Then, John’s friend Pete Townshend mentioned the album in an interview with Clashmusic.
“Elton is so fraught with loss at not knowing what to do next. He’s just gone over to L.A. to make an album with Brandi Carlile,” Townshend said. “They made an album together in two weeks. He says it’s one of the best things they’ve ever done.”
Carlile and John are also good friends — she appeared on John’s 2021 album The Lockdown Sessions, and they’ve also performed together numerous times.
READ MORE: Underrated Elton John: The Most Overlooked Song From Every Album
“This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made, but it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life,” John said in a press release. “It has given me a place where I know I can move forward. 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 two.”
“I’m still reeling from the fact that I got to do it,” Carlile added. “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. The world is a wild place to live in right now. It’s hard to find peace and triumph. It’s a radical act to seek out joyful and euphoric happenings. And that is what this album represents to me.”
Fans who pre-order Who Believes in Angels? will be offered the chance to buy tickets to An Evening With Elton John & Brandi Carlile, which will take place at the London Palladium on March 26.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile, ‘Who Believes in Angels?’ Track Listing
1. “The Rose Of Laura Nyro”
2. “Little Richard’s Bible”
3. “Swing for the Fences”
4. “Never Too Late”
5. “You Without Me”
6. “Who Believes in Angels?”
7. “The River Man”
8. “A Little Light”
9. “Someone to Belong To”
10. “When This Old World Is Done With Me”
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Gallery Credit: Matt Springer
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