You know what this sultry summer Friday calls for? A scorching new track from pop music dream team Elton John and Dua Lipa. The duo unleashed their new collab “Cold Heart” on the world today, and it’s going to be playing on repeat until further notice.
The song, which was first announced earlier this week, is something of a dance floor chimera, fusing elements of four different Elton John classics: “Kiss The Bride” (originally from 1983 album Too Low For Zero), “Rocketman” (from 1972’s Honky Chateau), “Where’s the Shoorah?” (from 1976 double album Blue Moves) and “Sacrifice” (from 1989’s Healing Hands). Lipa and John worked together on the track remotely, with Australian electronic band PNAU piecing the various components together.
And along with the track comes a gorgeous animated video featuring anime style versions of Lipa and John alongside four adorable stop-motion puppets.
“Cold Heart” is Lipa and John’s first single together, but their friendship has blossomed over the past year in various states of lockdown and isolation. “The last 18 months have been hard,” John said in a statement, “but being off the road has meant that I’ve actually had time to get back to my roots as a session player and collaborate with some wonderful artists. And having the opportunity to spend time with Dua, albeit remotely, has been incredible. She’s given me so much energy. She’s a truly wonderful artist, and person, absolutely bursting with creativity and ideas. The energy she brought to ‘Cold Heart’ just blew my mind.”
“Ever since we first ‘met’ online, we totally clicked,” Lipa adds. “Elton is such an inspirational artist and also has the naughtiest sense of humour—a perfect combination.”
Music isn’t the only area in which the two see eye to eye. Last month, they were among the most vocal celebrities to denounce DaBaby for spreading misinformation about HIV/AIDS along with homophobic comments onstage at Rolling Loud.
