Elton John and Britney Spears to collaborate on new song

'Hold Me Closer' will be Spears's first new song in years

The title of Britney Spears and Elton John's new song, 'Hold Me Closer', comes from the lyrics of John's 1970s hit 'Tiny Dancer'. Getty Images
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Princess of pop Britney Spears will join forces with music maestro Elton John on a new single, Interscope Records, the record company releasing the track, said on Monday.

The pair — who have 90 years' experience in the music business between them — will collaborate on Hold Me Closer.

No further details were announced, including when the track would be released, but it will be the first new music from Spears since the middle of the past decade.

The title of the song comes from the lyrics of John's early 1970s hit Tiny Dancer, which he co-wrote with long-time creative partner Bernie Taupin.

The news comes after days of online speculation from fans that the pair would be teaming up.

It also comes weeks after Spears announced a long-wished-for pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage.

The pregnancy, with Sam Asghari, came five months after a Los Angeles judge dissolved a conservatorship overseen by Spears's father — an arrangement the singer said had prevented her from having a contraceptive IUD removed despite her desire for more children.

Aside from her very public legal battle with her father, the singer has mostly only been seen on her social media account in recent years.

She has not given an interview, rarely makes public appearances and last performed in October 2018.

The superstar, who first came to public attention as a child in 1992, released four studio albums under the conservatorship, most recently Glory in 2016.

She was also among a number singers to have staged wildly lucrative Las Vegas residencies in recent years. Her four-year Britney: Pieces of Me run grossed a reported $138 million.

But in January 2019, she abruptly cancelled her planned return to Vegas, going on indefinite professional hiatus.

The multi-award-winning artist John is one of Britain's most bankable stars, whose showmanship and musicality have left their mark on the performing arts.

Since 1962, the singer — born Reginald Dwight — has been responsible for some of the most recognisable tunes in pop, including Rocket Man, Your Song and I'm Still Standing.

Scroll through photos of fans celebrating the end of Spears's conservatorship

Updated: August 09, 2022, 8:04 AM