Elton John has said he hopes his collaboration with Britney Spears is a hit so it helps to restore her confidence to make more music.
The pair released their much-anticipated duet, Hold Me Closer, which mixes his 1971 hit Tiny Dancer with his 1992 song The One, while parts of Don't Go Breaking My Heart from 1976 also feature in the track.
The single marks the first new music from Spears, 40, in six years and her first musical foray since the 13-year conservatorship which allowed her father Jamie Spears to control her freedom and finances.
Elton John, 75, told The Guardian: "It’s hard when you’re young. Britney was broken. I was broken when I got sober. I was in a terrible place.
"I’ve been through that broken feeling and it’s horrible, and, luckily enough, I’ve been sober for 32 years and it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.
"Now, I’ve got the experience to be able to advise people and help them because I don’t want to see any artists in a dark place.
"A lot of artists, you’d think they’d have a lot of self-esteem, but they don’t, and that’s why we go on stage and we get the applause, and then we come off stage and we’re back to square one."
He said the idea to work with Spears came from his husband, David Furnish.
The song follows the success of the singer’s collaboration with Dua Lipa on their track Cold Heart (Pnau Remix), released last year as the lead single from Elton’s 32nd studio album, The Lockdown Sessions.
Elton told The Guardian that Spears had to approve the music, adding: "She’s been away so long - there’s a lot of fear there, because she’s been betrayed so many times and she hasn’t really been in the public eye officially for so long.
"We’ve been holding her hand through the whole process, reassuring her that everything’s gonna be all right."
The singer, who has been travelling the globe as part of his marathon Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, added that he hoped the song will "restore her confidence in herself to get back into the studio, make more records, and realise that she is bloody good."
