{"id":6050,"date":"2025-07-02T01:00:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6050"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:57:11","slug":"elton-john-brandi-carlile-a-true-team-effort-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6050","title":{"rendered":"Elton John & Brandi Carlile \u2014 A True Team Effort Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve been singing with Elton all my life\u2014he just didn\u2019t know it until about 10 or 20 years ago,\u201d Brandi Carlile tells Apple Music\u2019s Zane Lowe about working with the storied singer-songwriter Sir Elton John. Featuring compositions co-written by John and Carlile along with John\u2019s longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer Andrew Watt, their collaborative album Who Believes in Angels? is a triumphant collection that celebrates the eternal promise held by music.<\/p>\n

For John, after ending his touring career in 2023 on the highest note possible with performances at Dodger Stadium and Glastonbury, he was seeking a project that would be forward-looking and feel different from his usual collaboration with Taupin. \u201cIf I\u2019d just made another Elton John record, I would\u2019ve killed myself,\u201d he says. \u201cI needed her. I needed her talent, her energy, her humor, and her brilliant lyrics. I\u2019ve got two of the greatest lyric writers in the world, Bernie Taupin and Brandi Carlile, and the lyrics in front of me. When we got going, it was like, whoosh\u2014like an express train.\u201d The album was done in three weeks, start to finish.<\/p>\n

Who Believes in Angels? opens with back-to-back salutes to two other titans of queer pop\u2014the emotionally charged singer-songwriter Laura Nyro and the fiery soul-preacher Little Richard.<\/p>\n

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Stream Now On Streamapse2.0<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Image Courtesy Of Apple Services.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Carlile credits John as one of her heroes and biggest influences, the project is a true team effort, with cuts like the raucous \u201cThe River Man\u201d and \u201cSomeone to Belong To\u201d feeling inspired simultaneously by John\u2019s carousing, hooky rock and Carlile\u2019s meticulously crafted Americana. It is, as John notes, a proper \u201cduet album,\u201d with both their voices harmonizing through each song. The prospects of getting real and celebrating differences recur throughout; the questioning title track tackles the idea of true friendship where people \u201cset the pleasantries aside,\u201d while the joyful \u201cSwing for the Fences\u201d highlights those who resemble \u201ca heartbeat cannon in a quiet spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Believes in Angels? is structured like an old-fashioned vinyl record even in its digital release, with definitive closing tracks for each five-song \u201cside.\u201d Both tracks\u2014one by a solo Carlile, the other by John\u2014have a sense of bittersweetness. Carlile\u2019s hushed ballad \u201cYou Without Me\u201d preemptively looks at how her life will change when her children leave the nest. John\u2019s sweeping \u201cWhen This Old World Is Done with Me\u201d comes to terms with his mortality and looks back on his life\u2014\u201cI\u2019ve had clouds with silver linings, complicated mornings,\u201d he sings\u2014with a brass band providing its mournful yet hopeful coda. Together, they make a resounding statement about life\u2019s perpetual motion\u2014one that began from a place of frustration and ended up in one of gratitude. I was in such a horrible mood when I started making this record,\u201c John says. \u201dI was really tired. I was irritable. The world was going crazy. I needed her to push me. I knew she could just go along with anything. She\u2019s that talented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every product\/service is selected by editors. Products\/Services you buy through these links may earn “SMG” a commission or revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019ve been singing with Elton all my life\u2014he just didn\u2019t know it until about 10 or 20 years ago,\u201d Brandi Carlile tells Apple Music\u2019s Zane Lowe about working with the storied singer-songwriter Sir Elton John. Featuring compositions co-written by John and Carlile along with John\u2019s longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin and producer Andrew Watt, their collaborative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-streamapse-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6053,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6050\/revisions\/6053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}