Like I keep yelling at people already posting images lusting for fall to come sooner, summer isn’t over! And Britney Spears and Elton John are here to say so as well, releasing their new single “Hold Me Closer” today that sounds like it’s straight from a summer pool party. With its deep, rolling disco bass and swirling vocal trills from Spears the song begs you to dance. And people will most certainly be turning it up at their respective Labor Day turn-ups — but is the song any good, or is it just riding on the reputations of its makers who happen to be two of the most iconic people in music?
I wager it’s a little bit of both. The song isn’t necessarily bad. It just leaves a lot to be desired. It’s a reimagining of John’s 1971 hit “Tiny Dancer,” so there’s already a lack of innovation to the track. When this new music was initially teased on Spears’ now-deleted Instagram, people didn’t know what to expect, but putting “Tiny Dancer” through an autotune car wash wasn’t what we needed. That’s probably the biggest problem with the song: it’s so edited that John and Spears both sound like robots, and using that effect on such a classic song comes across as jarring and lazy.
