“I Was a Nightmare”: Behind Tumultuous Elton John and Brandi Carlile Collaboration 

When two passionate artists get into the studio together, the potential for creative abundance and clashing egos increases exponentially—and that includes the collaboration between Elton John and Brandi Carlile. The iconic musicians will release their first studio album together, Who Believes In Angels?, on April 4, 2025, via Island EMI Records. The album promises to be a musical powerhouse, showing off both players’ unique talents.

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But creating such a distinct piece of work took a lot of time, patience, tested nerves, and more than a few tears. A trailer for a short film coinciding with the album’s release made plain just how tumultuous the recording process was.

Elton John and Brandi Carlile Collab Had Its Ups And Downs

If anyone still thought that getting huge egos in one room wouldn’t end in friction after watching the Beatles’ high-strung Get Back documentary, then the trailer for a short film coinciding with Elton John and Brandi Carlile’s collaborative album, Who Believes In Angels?, was likely an effective dasher of those last few threads of hope. Of course, we can’t say we’d blame someone for hoping that these musical collabs are just as friendly as they appear in photos, live footage, and press junket interviews. But as any artist or artist-adjacent person can attest, this is rarely the case.

Recording an album can be grueling and tedious. An artist is constantly riding the balance between finding their best performance and being honest about their abilities, and this kind of vulnerability can lead to frayed nerves and bruised egos. Such was true for the 20-day recording process of Who Believes In Angels?, during which John said, “I was a nightmare. Angry. I was tired. I was irritable.” This exhaustion and irritation were exacerbated by doubts John had about the quality of his collaborative record. Camera footage from the studio shows John slamming his headphones onto the piano, ripping up paper and throwing it on the ground, and butting heads with the crew.

“Elton is prone to moments of insecurity,” Carlile explained in a voiceover in the short film’s trailer. “Especially where the stakes are high.” Still, just because Carlile was aware of John’s emotional disposition didn’t make it any easier to handle. In a brief one-on-one with the production crew, Carlile admitted to struggling to connect with John. Moreover, the tensions in the studio made her wonder why John wanted to work with her in the first place.

In The End, The Reasons For Making The Record Became Clear

Good things take time. Great things take time and effort. Although Brandi Carlile and Elton John’s collaborative process was not without its tumultuous moments, the end result made the early hardships that much more worth it. The two artists eventually developed a flow in the studio, helping them knock out all ten tracks in under three weeks at Sunset Sound Recorders Studio in Los Angeles. While this wasn’t the first time John and Carlile had ever worked together, it was certainly the most arduous project they had shared.

In hindsight, that was more of a blessing than a curse. “This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made,” John said. “But it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. It has given me a place where I know I can move forward. Who Believes In Angels? feels like going into another era, and I’m pushing the door open to come into the future. I have everything I’ve done behind me, and it’s been brilliant, amazing. But this is the new start for me. As far as I’m concerned, this is the start of my career Mark 2.”

John and Carlile released the title track and first single off Who Believes In Angels? on February 5, 2025, and if the rest of the album is going to be anything like the single, we’d say all that hard work paid off tenfold.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy