Elton John, Brandi Carlile to Release Studio Album

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Elton John and Brandi Carlile. (Photo: Peggy Sirota; used with permission)

Elton John and Brandi Carlile have announced details of their collaborative studio album, Who Believes In Angels?, set for release on April 4, 2025, via Interscope Records. The album is available for pre-order in the U.K. here. [We’ll have the U.S. link shortly.] On the day of the announcement, the pair also shared the title track. Listen to it below.

Fans can pre-order Who Believes In Angels? to gain exclusive access for the chance to buy tickets to “An Evening With Elton John & Brandi Carlile” at The London Palladium on March 26. This one night only event will see them grace the stage for a unique evening of performance and storytelling. [More details here.]

The title track is a true collaboration; Carlile penned the lyrics and John the theme, before Watt joined them to bring it all together. Her soaring vocals meld exquisitely with his on a towering synth-charged chorus, as hard hitting as many of his best-loved classics.

From the February 5 announcement: The concept for Who Believes In Angels? was devised by close friends and regular collaborators Elton John, 11x GRAMMY-winner Carlile and multiple GRAMMY Award-winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt. As they set out to create a genuinely collaborative studio album, they chose to mix Elton-led songs and Brandi-led songs, with both Bernie Taupin and Carlile contributing lyrics, and producer and co-writer Watt acting as the producer, mediator and creative conduit. Entering Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound Studios in October 2023 with a completely blank slate, they pushed each other out of their comfort zones to write and record an album completely from scratch in just 20 days. They would be backed by a world class band of musicians comprising of Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Pino Palladino (Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan and David Gilmour) and Josh Klinghoffer (Pearl Jam, Beck).

Watch a short film about the process of making Who Believes In Angels? below, the first time that John has allowed cameras to film his writing and recording sessions. Static cameras positioned around the studio captured thousands of hours of raw footage, and ultimately documented the entire creative process – breakdowns, breakthroughs, tears, torn up lyric sheets and all. The candid footage offers fans an unprecedented insight into the creative process.

More from the announcement: Ballads co-exist with raw rock and roll, pop songs and country-hued Americana rub shoulders with synth-heavy psychedelia. John sounds utterly revitalized. Carlile sounds like a singer-songwriter at the absolute top of her game, her voice melding with Elton’s like a hand in a glove. The resulting songs somehow manage to be unequivocally the work of Elton John and Brandi Carlile, while sounding unlike any album either have made before.

“This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made,” said John, “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.”

“I’m still reeling from the fact that I got to do it,” said Carlile. “I think all ships rise with Elton John’s standards for songwriting, and it was an incredibly challenging and inspiring environment to work in, everybody throwing in ideas, everybody listening to everybody else’s ideas. It felt like a family. The world is a wild place to live in right now. It’s hard to find peace and triumph. It’s a radical act to seek out joyful and euphoric happenings. And that is what this album represents to me.”

Who Believes In Angels? also features 2025 Oscar nominated song “Never Too Late,” created especially for the 2024 Disney+ documentary of the same name.

A beautiful, reflective and ultimately uplifting story of finding happiness and redemption in love and family, “Never Too Late” is the truly fitting finale to the documentary that plays out over the credits of the documentary of the same name. The documentary follows Elton as he looks back on his life and the early days of his 50-year career. Directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish the documentary is available to watch on Disney+ now.

Elton John and Brandi Carlile Who Believes In Angels? Track Listing

The Rose Of Laura Nyro
Little Richard’s Bible
Swing For The Fences
Never Too Late
You Without Me
Who Believes In Angels?
The River Man
A Little Light
Someone To Belong To
When This Old World Is Done With Me

Plenty of “Who Believes in Angels?” merch is available here.