Last month, Elton John and Brandi Carlile announced their collaboration album, Who Believes In Angels? Now, the duo have shared the latest single from the record: the joyous rock track “Swing For The Fences.”
Speaking on the track, Brandi says: “Swing For The Fences’ was a little gem I took into the studio with me: I’m a gay woman, Elton’s a gay man and we both have families, and our dreams have come true. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to write an anthem for young gay kids out there that calls them into a bigger, more elegant, more fabulous life. Just like ‘go, go! don’t let anything hold you back!’”
Elton adds: “When we recorded ‘Swing For The Fences’, it was the moment that crystallized where the album was going. It was hard to get to that point, but we knew we had to rise to the occasion and we all just felt this massive sense of joy and euphoria. After our initial difficulties, all the uncertainties started to dissipate when this song came together. It just sounded great.”
The concept for Who Believes In Angels? was devised by John, Carlile, and multiple GRAMMY Award winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt. The close friends and regular collaborators set out to create a genuinely collaborative studio album between Elton and Brandi, with Elton’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin and Brandi both contributing lyrics. The album was created completely from scratch in just 20 days at Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound Studios in October 2023.
A short film documenting the album creation process is available to watch now. This is the first time that Elton has allowed cameras to film his writing and recording sessions. Static cameras positioned around the studio captured thousands of hours of raw footage, and ultimately documented the entire creative process–breakdowns, breakthroughs, tears, torn up lyric sheets and all.
Listen to “Swing For The Fences.”
