Elton John and Brandi Carlile recently announced plans to release a full collaborative album, Who Believes in Angels?, on April 4. The album includes “Never Too Late,” the title tune from the 2024 documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, which has been nominated for an Oscar in the best original song category.
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Elton already has two Oscars under his belt, while for Brandi, this is her first-ever nomination. In a new interview on BBC Radio’s The Scott Mills Breakfast Show, John and Carlile discussed how they felt about having a chance to win the prestigious honor.
“I can’t believe it,” Carlile enthused. “It’s actually unbelievably surreal, you know? I mean, when I fell in love with Elton’s music first off and I was so young, I recalled him winning the Oscar for Lion King (in 1995). And so, it’s surreal to be here now, and to be a part of Elton’s Oscar magic.”
Elton’s 1995 Oscar was for co-writing the Lion King tune “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” His second Academy Award came in 2020 for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” from the Rocketman biopic.
Host Scott Mills then noted that Elton had won so many awards. He proceeded task the pop-rock legend whether he ever gets bored of winning.
“I don’t think so,” Elton replied. “I mean, [at] the beginning of last year, we won an Emmy, which I didn’t have, so I became an EGOT—Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony. And there aren’t many of those.”
He continued, “Do I get bored? No … it’s been an amazing career, and I always look forward and not look back.”
More About Collaborating with Carlile on “Never Too Late”
John added that he’s very excited about the latest Oscar nomination. He then talked about how his collaboration with Carlile on “Never Too Late” came together, and how it wound up being used as the film’s title.
“Brandi came to [my home in] the south of France and saw a very rough cut of the documentary, and started work on this song,” he recalled. “And originally, the documentary was going to be called Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which was a bit boring. And then … when this song was finished and we recorded it, we thought this was … all about the documentary. It’s about my life and how it turned around. It’s never too late to do anything. And it worked out so beautifully.”
He continued, “And all four of us worked on it, including Bernie [Taupin] and Andrew Watt, the producer. So it’s … a quadruple effort. But really, the nuts and bolts came from Brandi.”
More About the Upcoming Album, Who Believes in Angels?
John and Carlile recorded Who Believes in Angels? in October 2023, shortly after Elton performed at the famed Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. As previously reported, the sessions were filmed, and Elton initially was in an extremely volatile mood when he began work on the album.
John explained in the interview that his moodiness partly stemmed from his frustration of trying to figure out how to approach making the album, which he wanted to be special and unique.
“I didn’t want to make the same kind of record that I’d made years before,” he insisted. “I wanted it to be fresh, and I wanted it to be exciting, and I wanted it to be vital, unexpected and vital. And that’s what I feel the energy in the record has.”
Elton also acknowledged that Carlile had her hands full dealing with his bad behavior.
For her part, Brandi maintained that she actually appreciated the experience.
“[I]t was kind of iconic,” she said. “It was what … you’d hope, you know, because it just really was watching a master class, a master work on a level that’s hard to even really conceptualize nowadays.”
Carlile said that John kept on changing his mind about the musical direction of the album. As she noted, he eventually settled on an approach that worked perfectly.
“[O]ne day he called me and he said, ‘[L]et’s just be us, but let’s not do what anyone would expect us to do,’” she shared. “‘It’s not an Americana record, it’s not a ballad record. This is gonna be something unlike anything anybody’s ever heard.’ And that’s what happened.”
About the Who Believes in Angels? Title Track
John and Carlile have released the title track of Who Believes in Angels? as an advance single from the album. An official musical video for the song also has premiered on YouTube. The clip features Elton and Brandi performing the tune inside a John-themed pinball machine.
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