The one and only Elton John is in conversation with Fleur East this evening (Wednesday 27th October) in an hour-long Hits Radio special that sees the singer speak about his new album ‘The Lockdown Sessions’.
Out this week, the album features collaborations with huge music stars including Charlie Puth, Nicki Minaj, Rina Sawayama, Miley Cyrus, Stevie Wonder and more. Joking about the concept of the record, Elton said to Fleur “Old, old fart makes record with Nicki Minaj and Young Thug right?! These are the kind of artists that keep me young.” He continued “You know I listen to all new music, I know all the old music but like it's the new music in life that keeps me inspired. And all these new artists that come along. I mean when you think Lorde make an album at 16 which was amazing like Billie Eilish did when she was 15. There's a new artist called music called Morgen, M-O-R-G-E-N, she's from Santa Cruz. She's made two singles that I've played on my record and she's like, I can't believe a 16-year-old girl is making this kind of music. It's astonishing.”
On why he’s pushing for young artists to be able to tour in Europe, Elton shared – “I'm trying with all my best, to try and get the Government to change the rules because at the moment. If you are a young artist and your British, you can't financially afford to go to Europe. There's so much rigmarole and red tape. It's okay for and Ed Sheeran’s of the world, we have a huge conglomerate you know operation behind us. But for young artists and it's really desperate because if you are a young artist you have to play live and playing live makes you grow as an artist. You write better songs, you go to different cultures. You soak in the cultures, and it's really the biggest bee in my bonnet at the moment. You know I have to concentrate, now I'm back from holiday I have to really get my butt in shape and hopefully get a resolution in some respect or get some progress done.”
Elton shared that despite campaigning for younger artists to tour, his current tour will definitely be his last. “I can assure you it's the final tour. I will be doing some charity shows if I'm asked, but I'm not touring again. I'll be 76 when I finish, I need to be with my family. My boys will be teenagers. I will always make music, I'll always be doing my radio stuff and whatever, but you know I've been playing music since I was 17 professionally. That's 57 years of, it'll be 59 years by the time I finish. I've had enough applause, I can't do a better show than I'm doing and so I'm really really, I'm really adamant that I'm not touring again. I can't.”
Listen to Elton John – In Conversation with Fleur Eat on Hits Radio, tonight at 7pm – hitsradio.co.uk
