Sir Elton John’s new album might be released early next year.
The record only exists because the 79-year-old music legend’s eyesight troubles forced him to rebuild his entire creative process from scratch.
His longtime collaborator, Bernie Taupin, has a rough idea of when the LP is out, though nothing is concrete yet.
The songwriter told Rolling Stone: “Well, he’s got a record coming out, I think, at the beginning of next year that I contributed to. But I literally don’t know when that is. He did it with Andrew Watt again. And he wrote it in a completely different way simply because of his eyesight problem.”
Explaining Elton’s new approach to his craft, he said: “So he basically came up with instrumental tracks and threw basically three or four of them at me and said, ‘Can you do something with these?’ Which I contributed to. But he’s also worked with a couple of other people on there, which is great. So it’s a whole different ballgame for him.”
While accepting the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize at the Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto in May, the I’m Still Standing hitmaker explained that his eye condition made his usual lyric-first method impossible.
He told the audience: “I’ve had eye trouble recently and I always make records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics, and so I’m kind of f***** at the moment.”
For the first time in his five-decade career, he had to flip his approach completely.
He continued: “What my eye has given me is a chance of, at 80 years of age, completely reversing how I write. I’m writing melodies first, and lyrics coming second. I’ve never done that. And I’ve just done it.”
The shift sparked a creative breakthrough, resulting in an album he describes as unlike anything he’s ever made.
He added: “I’ve just done an album, which is so different to anything I’ve ever done before, but it’s so happy. I’m so thrilled with it because it’s given me another chance to make music.”
Elton’s eye issues began in the summer of 2024, when an infection left him blind in his right eye.
The new record will follow his 2025 joint LP with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels?.
