Interview by Niall Doherty
Elton John is back with a new album – Who Believes In Angels? (EMI/Interscope) – the music legend’s much-anticipated collaborative record with Brandi Carlile.
It follows the No.1 result for greatest hits Diamonds earlier this year – the first time the album has reached the summit after more than 80 weeks in the Top 10.
Elton John and Brandi Carlile worked with producer and co-writer Andrew Watt on the new record in Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound Studios.
Who Believes In Angels? brings together songs led by each of them, with Carlile and Bernie Taupin both delivering lyrics. Watt acted as producer, mediator and creative conduit.
Musicians on the record include Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Pino Palladino (Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan and David Gilmour) and Josh Klinghoffer (Pearl Jam, Beck).
Elton John also allowed cameras to film his writing and recording sessions, which resulted in some candid footage.
The album was previewed on stage last month with a one-off concert, An Evening With Elton John & Brandi Carlile at The London Palladium.
The release of the LP includes limited edition vinyl options, a deluxe boxset with a bonus track and studio footage.
To shed further light on the album and campaign, Elton John’s Rocket Entertainment management duo David Furnish and Rachael Paley – Manager Of The Year winners at the Music Week Awards in 2022 – share key insights on the collaborative project and reflect on the enduring success of Elton John for multiple generations of fans…
Who Believes In Angels? has arrived – what does release week entail for you?
David Furnish: “Oh my goodness. Release week is about making sure we are coming into a period of very heavy promotion in terms of the amount of work that Elton and Brandi are doing, both in the UK and in America, and making sure we’re in lockstep with the label so that we can connect the dots for the fans. For example, CBS Sunday Morning went out [March 30], it goes out globally on YouTube and it hits a huge album-buying audience. It’s making sure we have the digital activations in place around that so that people who want to pre-order, it’s easy to find, easy to know where to go, making sure that we have all of that key signposting in place for the album. Both Elton and Brandi are really working hard. They’re doing a lot of very big high-profile promo. We want to make sure that we connect the dots.”
It does feel like a very energetic campaign. How did you bring that together?
Rachael Paley: “The music came first and then we built the world around that, the key themes and narrative arc being heroes and inspirations. The energy and chemistry has come from Elton and Brandi, who have done a huge amount of promotion and been very excited to finally talk about the record.
“We filmed the first time Elton, Brandi and Andrew [Watt[ played the album to UMG/UMPG, which was used for all our playbacks and DSP content giving a really personable context from the creatives. And the Palladium show, which was filmed for ITV & CBS, was phenomenal and really brought the record to life – it was electrifying to see with the band.”
Elton is a very forceful person, which he’s not even aware of – it’s just who he is and he doesn’t realise
David Furnish
The album feels really fresh and vital, like a clean slate…
DF: “Yeah. When Elton finished touring and finished that wonderful high of Glastonbury, he wanted to put that Elton to bed and wanted to scale and climb new, creative mountains. This is the first album that he’s done since then and he did it with Brandi. I was there for the full three weeks in Los Angeles. It was a really intense, highly emotional period of time where Elton was coming down from the [Farewell Yellow Brick Road] tour, which went on for a very long time. I think his whole body was going through a sort of physiological change because if you think about doing that number of shows, and you’re living on adrenaline all the time and then you have a period of time where you stop, I think, in retrospect maybe – and it was said at the time – he picked the worst time to do a new album because he hadn’t fully recharged.
“That was something that he was confronting, and also the fact that he really wanted to break new ground musically. The first song that he wrote was a classic Elton-style ballad. I was there when he put it down in the studio and everybody was like, ‘Yeah, that’s really beautiful’ and then Elton went home and said, ‘I’m gonna cancel the album, I don’t want to do an album like that’. He said, ‘I can write Elton John in my sleep, I don’t want to do that again, I want to do something that’s sonically different, I want to do something that’s musically challenging that also reflects where I am in my life right now, and where Brandi is at in her life right now.’ They hadn’t done any advanced preparation before they got into the studio. The summer before, Brandi and her family and Andrew Watt all came to stay with us and there were lots of conversations like, ‘It’ll be great when we get in the studio!’ and I was saying, ‘Do you guys want to do a bit of planning?!’.”
What’s your role like at that point, when there’s a bit of a false start and it’s all getting a bit tense?
DF: “It’s to reassure. It’s like, ‘Brandi’s living next door, you and Bernie are on speed dial, you guys need to talk about the types of songs that you want to do and the type of album that you want to make’. At the same time, the war in the Middle East was breaking out and it was so depressing and so intense. Elton said, ‘Should we be making an album right now?’ and I said, ‘Yes, you should, this is the time where you drive into your art, this is where you use art to heal and art to inspire and to uplift’. The album needed to be a counter to all of that. It quickly morphed because he had conversations with Bernie about his musical heroes, from Laura Nyro to Little Richard, Brandi would come over in the morning, and they would have breakfast together and Elton would be looking in the newspapers and lamenting the state of the world and she started developing lyrical ideas that were about inspiration.
“The whole album became about the people that influence you from the past, the people that support you in the present; an album about inspiration and about how we get through life, through the people that touch us, either in our personal life, or people that inspire us professionally. And once that energy and that spirit got telecommunicated across the four collaborators – because it really was a four-way collaboration – the whole energy shifted.”
This album has pushed Elton musically and creatively, he doesn’t ever want to be pigeonholed
Rachael Paley
What was the relationship like between Elton and Andrew Watt?
DF: “But for those first couple of days before Elton really felt like, ‘OK, we’re in a substantial place, this is going in the right direction,’ Andrew was pushing him. They’re very close and they’re good friends and they talk about music all the time and Andrew feels comfortable enough to really challenge Elton. And the way Elton was initially talking to Andrew – and we’ve captured this on the film footage – was quite abrupt, and it was coming from a place of fear. It was not coming from a place of, ‘You can’t talk to me that way!’. Andrew knew the bar Elton had set for himself and what he wanted to achieve for Brandi.
“Andrew came over before we started, and brought 17-11-70, Elton’s live album which was recorded as a radio show and then became a bootleg. After the bootleg became so prolific, it was released as a live album. When Andrew played that for the two of us, Elton hadn’t heard it for many years. Elton was like, ‘Oh my god, the energy, that’s just a three-piece band, listen to my piano-playing, and listen to Nigel’s [Olsson] drums and listen to Dee’s [Murray] bass!’. Andrew was like, ‘That’s what I want this album to be’ and Elton was like, ‘You know, that’s a high bar’.”
I saw an interview with Elton saying he was a bit of a nightmare in the studio. How did you help keep it all on track?
DF: “When you work with artists, they always lead with their heart. When everybody was not quite sure what they were doing in the direction the album was going, and Elton was saying, ‘I’m going to cancel, I’m too tired, I don’t think this is the right time,’ I had to reassure Elton. I had to reassure Brandi. Bernie has seen Elton in the studio more than the other two had but even Bernie, I think, was a little disillusioned. I just try to keep everybody talking. I try to keep everybody connected. I try to reassure people privately. Andrew really wanted this to be the best it could be and initially he felt Elton pushing back, because Elton was unfamiliar and a little scared, but Andrew was absolutely doing the right thing and he needed reassuring to keep going. I would go down and say, ‘Andrew is your friend, but you shouldn’t be talking to him in the way that you are, you just need to pull back a bit’.
“I’ve been with Elton for 31 years. I’m very happy to talk to him like that and about that. Elton is quite formidable, he has very, very powerful energy. He’s a very forceful person, which he’s not even aware of. It’s just who he is and he doesn’t realise. I think Andrew hadn’t been on the receiving end of it and Brandi hadn’t seen it firsthand. Bernie’s seen it more. There was a lot of reassuring and also saying, ‘Dial it down a bit, you love these people, they are your friends and artists that you respect and love and everybody wants the same thing.’”
We would like to find more opportunities for Elton to work with young artists, in terms of future collaborations
David Furnish
What do you think it adds to Elton's legacy?
RP: “This album has pushed Elton musically and creatively, he doesn’t ever want to be pigeonholed and the fact he decided to work with Brandi, Andrew and Bernie in this way within months of the Farewell tour shows how much he’s always looking forward and challenging himself. The energy between all of them is palpable and it created pure magic.
“By allowing us to put cameras in the studio to capture the process of conception, I think it will be incredible for fans to see how fast Elton is at writing songs. It’s testament to his incredible musicianship and long-lasting legacy, he’s not afraid to take advice and wants to be pushed. It was extremely brave for all of the writers to allow this insight showing the highs and the lows, the insecurities that can happen during the creative process.”
How did you settle on what you wanted the new campaign to look like?
DF: “Well, the best art in the world is completely authentic. The sheer joy for him and Brandi to get to this point after 20 years of friendship and then to create an album like this, the campaign is reflecting that joy. The album cover that we did [Furnish and Catherine Carlile worked with David LaChapelle on the album sleeve], we really felt we were back in Yellow Brick Road, Captain Fantastic territory in terms of the feel and the scale and scope of the album. The discussions about the artwork and the cover, it’s like, ‘Well, who celebrates Elton’s iconography but also makes it contemporary better than David LaChapelle?’. All of that joy and that sense of pride and love for each other is all being poured into everything that we’ve created. There’s a lot of storytelling and, in today’s world, the more you can tell genuine stories that resonate with an audience and then you have the great music to back it up, that’s a very rare and very special thing. So we’re just doing our best to take that out into the world and amplify it.”
David Furnish and Rachael Paley on the cover of Music Week in 2022 following their Music Week Awards win
What’s your proudest achievement working with Elton?
DF: “I mean, what Elton just did at the Palladium with Brandi and the band. His eyesight is quite compromised now, so learning new material and performing when he can’t see the band clearly and he can’t see the audience, the courage that it takes for him to do that, and the preparation that’s required. There’s a lot of people that love him very, very much, myself included, making sure that there is the maximum amount of support for him before, during and after. It went so well. We’re cutting together the TV special and we’re listening to the music and the tracks as they come through. Oh my god, the sound of that band and the way they perform, it’s extraordinary.
“To get Elton to a point where he’s 78 and can go on stage and play and sing and perform like that and walk away and think, ‘This is one of the best things I’ve ever done’ and the reviews were all five-star across the board. I’m really proud of that because it’s what we surround Elton with that allows him to do it and that’s my responsibility, to make sure that he has all the support that he needs.”
The energy between all of them is palpable and it created pure magic
Rachael Paley
What did it mean that Diamonds finally got to No.1? It was a long time coming. How did you celebrate?
RP: “It was a huge achievement after eight years. It’s incredible that it has never left the Top 100 since release. We peaked at No.2 after Glastonbury but really wanted the top spot for Elton off the back of the Disney+ documentary release and we were all over the moon. It was a great way to start 2025, although we didn’t have a chance to celebrate as it was straight into the Who Believes In Angels? launch.”
Is there a moment you could identify that was the making of you as Elton’s manager?
DF: “I don’t think about that. I had many years of imposter syndrome, which I think a lot of people have, and we all do a good job of covering it up. I think when the tour came to an end, and at that moment in time was the most successful tour in history, and the fact that the Glastonbury moment fitted in so well with that at the same time, I think that was the first moment where I finally allowed myself to think, yeah, we did a good job. It was important for both Elton and me to have that line and to reach it and acknowledge it, and then start with a clean slate going forward in terms of new and exciting things. My frustration over the years with Elton is, because he’s such a polymath, there’s so many wonderful things he could do. As much as he loved touring, I think there are just so many wonderful opportunities that we can pursue.”
Let’s go back to that Glastonbury headline slot for a moment. What was the vibe like backstage that night?
DF: “It was exciting. It came from a place of Elton for years saying he’d never play Glastonbury because he didn’t think he would go down well at Glastonbury, which is the greatest irony of all. He said, ‘I’m too old for Glastonbury’. His lack of self-awareness and lack of ego in situations like that is always really refreshing. I’m like, ‘Are you crazy? Are you nuts? Your music touches every generation. Your life story has touched young people because they see you, they know what you’ve been through and what you’ve overcome and what you’ve survived and how your music is connected with all of that. You’re a real touchstone in people’s lives.’
“I had gone to Glastonbury the day before with our sons and went around and I was feeding him what we were seeing, what the fans were like, what the atmosphere was like. If I hadn’t done that, he would have been very apprehensive when he went in, when in fact he went in and he was really excited because he heard the boys and I talking about what a great time we were having and how great the Glastonbury team was and how great the fans were. When he got backstage, he saw Lil Nas X, he saw Olivia Dean, he saw Joesef, he had all of these artists come because he wanted to chat with them. He was really calm, really very centred. I was like, ‘This is a big deal’ and said, ‘Look, I’ve spent my whole career preparing myself as a live performer. If I can’t do this, then I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing’. He was remarkably focused and very, very powerful, very, very connected to it.”
Is there anything you want to add about the working relationship with the label?
RP: “We have been working on this record for nearly two years – it really does take a village! The label have been great, supportive partners throughout the process, we have an incredible team who have worked hard to bring the vision to life.”
What’s coming next?
DF: “I think we would like to find more opportunities for Elton to work with young artists, in terms of future collaborations. I know there’s lots of people he would love to work with, people that he admires, and also to find a way to do that in a more official capacity. I haven’t quite figured out what that would be and how that might work, but for that to become not just a hobby but something that is a little bit more official.”
Read Music Week’s previous cover story with Elton John, David Furnish and Rachael Paley.
Photo credit: Peggy Sirota
