Cold cold heart elton john movie#

“But it always comes down to timing and the quality of the song.” Still, pairing a renowned hitmaker with a recent one is far from a guaranteed recipe for chart success, “We’ve seen other examples of new artists perform with heritage artists over the years - Elton actually performed ‘Stan’ with Eminem at the Grammy’s 20 years ago and it became a hit at the time,” adds Zellner. It’s what led him to include collaborations with a number of modern artists in The Lockdown Sessions - a compilation album of John’s recent duets with artists like Gorillaz, Lil Nas X, Miley Cyrus, & Rina Sawayama, and some new surprising features from artists like Young Thug & Nicki Minaj. It is precisely that open-eared nature that takes John’s compositions to places for which they were never intended to be, the result is a symbiosis of sound and time. I’ve come into contact with them, promote them and become friends.” My object when I do that is to play new music by new artists. Keeping his finger on the pulse of new releases is just one of the many ways that the international superstar keeps tabs on the fast-paced and ever-evolving musical landscape, “I’ve always tried to be relevant,” explained John, “I think a lot of that is due to the fact that I do my own radio show. In an interview with Billboard earlier this October, he noted his approach saying, “I get a list of all CDs that come out Friday morning at ten o’clock, then I ring up and say, ‘These are the ones I want.'” John’s knowledge of emerging genres and new artists is comprehensive - and methodical. “ Elton says ‘use the hits,’ you’re still talking about 40 to 50 songs.”

“The only directive gave us was this time around, utilize the hits from we were given carte blanche to play around with - anything that we desired,” describes Nick. It’s a process that begs many questions, but John kept the assignment simple for his proteges. The pressure of piecing together a musical puzzle like this is a task handed to few - especially when the puzzle pieces are made up of such an iconic discography. “Working with Elton and Bernie ’s catalog is a once in a lifetime opportunity that we have been lucky enough to tackle twice!” raves Nick Littlemore in an email interview with Billboard.Ī long-time music industry titan with one foot in the future, John made the calculated request for Pnau to remix the track: “Elton specifically wanted to gain favor with a hip younger audience, we were given the extraordinary opportunity to make it happen,” explains Nick. Stitching together John’s older classics with Lipa’s modern sound was Australian dance-pop trio, Pnau, who reworked John’s celebrated harmonies to create “Cold Heart.” Pnau is Nick Littlemore, Peter Mayes and Sam Littlemore - long time Sir Elton mentees, and veterans of John collaborations thanks to their work on his first remix album, 2012’s Good Morning to the Night. History has proven that the formula used to construct ‘Cold Heart’ comes from a hugely successful past from a legendary artist.” Tear adds, “ younger audience can be unforgiving and quick to judge, they want a great piece of music on first listen.

Cold cold heart elton john movie#

He also suspects Elton John’s 2019 biopic, Rocketman, also had a hand in catapulting the mashup track to new and younger audiences: “I think ‘Rocket Man’ is Elton’s most iconic song that spans multiple generations, and the recent movie gave it new life.” Zellner says that he began to notice “Cold Heart” gain traction quickly, first with younger demographics and then in pop airplay. We’re not surprised - it’s a great piece of music, and we’re glad it’s being received so well.” Then add being paired with a pop now artist that’s thriving and you’ve got a hit. “‘Cold Heart” had this great melodic flow,” adds Alex Tear, vice president of pop music & programming at SiriusXM, “topped off with Elton’s proven lyrics, and vocal swag. Now it seems, the future of music is in the past - at least that proves to be the fundamental lesson of “Cold Heart,” which sees John and Lipa trading off lyrics from earlier Elton John tracks, most notably 1972’s “Rocket Man” and 1989’s “Sacrifice.” (It also interpolates 1976’s “Where’s the Shoorah” & 1983’s “Kiss the Bride”). ” While Dua Lipa has had a recent string of hits at all three formats, it had been 21 years since John last visited the Hot 100 - with “Someday Out of the Blue,” which peaked at No. Jon Zellner, president of programming operations at iHeartMedia, tells Billboard in an email that he believed the song would find its niche in some radio formats, but didn’t expect to see John in the top 40: “I thought the song had a lot of potential at, but I was surprised to see its success at and even. FIFTY FIFTY, XG Score Wins for Asian Pop Groups at U.S.