Elton John hopes Britney Spears collaboration will ‘restore her confidence in herself’

New single ‘Hold Me Closer’ is out now

Elton John has said he hopes his new musical collaboration with Britney Spears will help “restore her confidence in herself”.

Spears has not released an album for six years. After being released from her controversial conservatorship last year, she suggested that she was “scared of people and the business”.

“I asked for 13 years to perform new songs and remixes of my old songs,” she wrote on Instagram last December. “I had two months off in between each show settings for four years in Vegas … and every time I asked I was told ‘No…’

“So much wasted time to only embarrass me and humiliate me and I guess it seems odd to most now why I don’t even do my music anymore… that’s just the surface issues,” she continued.

Despite this, the singer has now made her musical comeback with the single “Hold Me Closer”, recorded in collaboration with John. The single has already drawn rave reactions from fans.

Speaking to The Guardian, the “Rocket Man” star said: “I’m so excited to be able to do it with her because if it is a big hit, and I think it may be, it will give her so much more confidence than she’s got already and she will realise that people actually love her and care for her and want her to be happy.

“That’s all anybody in their right mind would want after she went through such a traumatic time.”

He added: “I’m just crossing my fingers that this will restore her confidence in herself to get back into the studio, make more records, and realise that she is bloody good.”

“Hold Me Closer” is out now. Shortly before the single’s release, Spears deleted her Instagram page.