Elton John has announced a new album titled The Lockdown Sessions, a collection of collaborations largely recorded remotely over the last 18 months.
Set to arrive on Friday, 22nd October, the album will contain 10 new tracks in addition to six that have already released. Among the already-released tracks collated are John’s version of ‘Chosen Family’ with Rina Sawayama, Miley Cyrus‘ cover of Metallica‘s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ (which John features on), and his recent Dua Lipa and PNAU collaboration ‘Cold Heart’.
Elsewhere on the album will be ‘One of Me’, a collaboration with Lil Nas X which will feature on the rapper’s forthcoming debut album Montero. There’s also a song with Young Thug and Nicki Minaj titled ‘Always Love You’, a song with Stevie Nicks called ‘Stolen Car’, a Stevie Wonder collaboration titled ‘Finish Line’ and ‘E-Ticket’, a song with Eddie Vedder. The album will close with a new version of the late country legend Glen Campbell‘s 2014 single ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’.
“The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens,” John explains.
“But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”
See the full tracklist for The Lockdown Sessions, and listen to PNAU’s ‘Cold Heart’ remix below.
Elton John – The Lockdown Sessions tracklist
1. Elton John & Dua Lipa – ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’
2. Elton John, Young Thug & Nicki Minaj – ‘Always Love You’
3. Surfaces feat. Elton John – ‘Learn to Fly’
4. Elton John & Charlie Puth – ‘After All’
5. Rina Sawayama & Elton John – ‘Chosen Family’
6. Gorillaz feat. Elton John & 6LACK – ‘The Pink Phantom’
7. Elton John & Years & Years – ‘It’s a Sin (Global Reach mix)’
8. Miley Cyrus feat. WATT, Elton John, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo & Chad Smith – ‘Nothing Else Matters’
9. Elton John & SG Lewis – ‘Orbit’
10. Elton John & Brandi Carlile – ‘Simple Things’
11. Jimmie Allen & Elton John – “Beauty in the Bones’
12. Lil Nas X feat. Elton John – ‘One of Me’
13. Elton John & Eddie Vedder – ‘E-Ticket’
14. Elton John & Stevie Wonder – ‘Finish Line’
15. Elton John & Stevie Nicks – ‘Stolen Car’
16. Glen Campbell & Elton John – ‘I’m Not Gonna Miss You’
