February 11, 2025 • 26 mins
This Valentine's week, we've been given a gift from the heart - from music legends Sir Elton John and Brandi Carlile. "Who Believes In Angels?" the single, dropped last week, and an album of the same name will be available in April.
Sharing generously of their time, these two dropped in to tell me all about the collaborative project, the highs, the lows, and the splendid outcome! Turns out, the making of the album was filmed and at some point we'll all get to watch the process. There's so much to look forward to but for right now, enjoy the conversation and this brilliant new song, "Who Believes In Angels?". (I do!) ~ Delilah
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I love February for so many reasons. Firstly because sunset
happens after five o'clock, Secondly because it's the month of love,
sweet love, and thirdly, well because it's my birthday month. Okay,
so I'm not really that excited about the number I'm
celebrating these days, but the fact that I'm still able
(00:25):
to celebrate is amazing this year. Call it a Valentine's
gift or a Birthday gift, whatever you like, but a
dynamic duo by the names of Sir Elton John and
Brandy Carlyle have just wrapped up a beautiful new project
and presented it to the world. Brandy Carlyle is an
eleven time Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, performer and producer,
(00:50):
a two time Emmy Award winning composer, lyricist and writer,
a number one New York Times bestselling author, and an
activist who's known as one of music's most respected voices.
She just received her first OSCAR nomination in the Original
Song category for Never Too Late, a track written alongside
(01:11):
Elton John, Bernie Toppen, and Andrew Watt for the Disney
Plus documentary of the same name. On Elton's life and career.
Sir Elton John's career achievements to date are unsurpassed. He's
one of the top selling solo artists of all time
in the US and the UK charts alone. He has
(01:33):
over eighty five top forty hits, and he sold more
than three hundred million records worldwide. Among his many awards
and honors are six Grammys, a tony two Oscars, induction
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a
(01:56):
Knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I for sir vises
to music and charitable services. In January of twenty four,
Elton joined Hollywood's elite group of Egott winners after securing
his first ever Emmy Award for his historic Disney Plus
(02:17):
Live concert special Elton John Live Farewell from Dodger Stadium.
Last week, Elton and Brandy announced details of their exciting
new collaborative studio album, Who Believes In Angels, set for
release on April fourth, while also unveiling the new single
(02:39):
from the album, the title cut, Who Believes In Angels.
The album's concept was devised by Elton and Brandy, as
well as multiple Grammy Award winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt.
It's a genuinely collaborative studio album Elton led and Brandy
(03:00):
led songs, with long term collaborator Bernie Toppin and Brandy
contributing lyrics, and producer and co writer Andrew acting as
the producer, the mediator, the creative conduit. It was written
and recorded completely from scratch in just twenty days, and
(03:21):
it's the first time Elton has allowed cameras to film
his writing and recording sessions, ultimately documenting the entire process,
the breakdowns, the breakthroughs, the tears, the torn up lyrics,
sheets and all. And guess what, they dropped in to
chat with us about it and are letting me share
the single with everyone listening. We'll catch up with Sir
(03:46):
Elton and Brandy right after I catch you up on
one of the podcast sponsors that help bring this conversation
to you. Have you been looking for a milk replacement
because you have dairy allergies sensitivities. Well, I found one
that's absolutely amazing. It's Sherry's hazel Cream made from Oregon hazelnuts.
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it's designed for cooking and baking. It all started because Sherry,
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but not gravy that tasted like coconut or oatmeal. So
by enlisting the help of her engineer husband and a
(04:32):
friend that's a food scientist, and through much trial and error,
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It's very neutral and taste and works with a large
variety of recipes. It comes sealed in shelf stable, easy
to use, pre measured portion pods that you place into
(04:54):
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cream or even condem minced milk for pies and other
mouth watering desserts. It's delicious and mashed potatoes and cakes,
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com to learn more about this product, to read Sherry's story,
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C h e Ris Hazelcream dot com. Use code love
twenty four for ten percent off your order. That's Sherries
(05:35):
Hazel Cream and Love twenty four. Hi Elton, Hi Brandy,
what an honor. Thank you so much. I am so
blessed and flattered and what an opportunity and I can't
wait to jump into this. Twenty nineteen, I brought like
half my family to the Tacomadome and we got to
(05:59):
go backstage to meet you. And I had ordered Elton
John glasses for all of us before the show, and
so here we are in the green room and in walks,
Brandy and your family, and I got to experience, like
a fly on the wall, the most beautiful exchange of
(06:22):
energy when I saw you to embrace.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yep, it was magical. It was magical. The first time
we ever met was in Las Vegas, when Brandy came
to Vegas and she'd asked me if i'd write play
on a song, and I said, of course, if you
can come to Vegas because I was there in residency.
So she did, and before we even started recording, there
was a magic that it was like we'd been friends
(06:47):
all our life. That that happens sometimes when you meet people.
She has been a friend since then, and the friendship
has grown and grown and our family spent time together,
and now we've made music together. She's a here with
me on stage. I've appeared with her at Joney Jams,
the Johnny Mitchell concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Yeah, she's
(07:08):
a very very important part of our life, and so
is her family, and we go on holiday together. In fact,
never too late the song for the Oscars, Brandy watched
a kind of rough cut of the documentary A Nice
and then started to write this song, and it became
the song that eventually happened on the album. But yeah,
(07:32):
she was responsible for that, and it's been an amazing
friendship and it's so glad we got to make a
record together. I've always wanted to make a record together
for the last five years, and this was the ideal
time to do it, after the tour finished.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Seeing the two of you together and getting to experience
that if I could paint it, it would be like
these intense colors coming together and swirling and blending and
making a whole new color. And now to see you
guys doing the song, doing the album, I can't believe
(08:07):
I got to be there to see it, and now
I get to talk to you about it.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So we're so throwed with the album. We wrote it
and recorded it within three weeks, and the electricity was
flying in that studio because of her, because of Bernie talking,
because of Andrew what the producer. I've never worked with
four people on a project before, and it was just
so intense and so justifiable. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Brandy. I got to watch. They sent me a little
sneak peek of the making of the album. It's just
a little screener they sent me, and you looked Brandy.
First off, you look like a teenager. Just your body
energy and the way you were setting and the way
you were becoming one with the music. You looked ageless.
(08:56):
I mean you both did. But I kept looking at
you like squinting at the screen, going Okay, this isn't ai.
I know this is real. But your energy was so
pure and so young and youthful, and the music is
so young and fun.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Wow, thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I would definitely say my teenage self was writing Shotgun
that whole process, and I was just really I just
let it happen. I let myself go back to being thirteen,
fourteen years old because I was going back to school.
I was ready to go to school and unknow everything
I knew and really be open to anything that could happen.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
She has the energy of a teenager, and so do I.
But inside that energy on this album was a grumpy
old man.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
No and e start.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I was grumpy and it's delight it. It's all filmed.
The whole writing process, the whole recording process has been
filmed by nine cameras and so eventually you'll get to
see what it was like. But I was tired and
I had self doubt, incredible self doubt, and Brandy, Bernie
and Andrew pushed me through the process, pushed me to
the other side. And when I got to the other
(10:05):
side and felt their love and energy, the album just flew.
I mean it just flew. And it was one of
the greatest artistic processes that I've been involved with from
an artist point of view, because she was so great
to me, and she just she put up with me.
She was very measured, she knew how to get around me.
(10:27):
She was just so great, and the process started off
very shakily and ended up just off the charts. It's
like we were in another planet.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to
experience the whole thing I got to hear. They sent
me the title kuit and I listened to it Who
Believes In Angels, and then I listened to it again,
and then I had to listen to it again because
there's so much going on. It's like kind of like
(11:00):
like biting into something and it just there's just more
and more and more and more to it.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Well it makes sense, I mean, Who Believes In Angels
is fascinating track because all the other songs that are
on the album are about these kind of things that
are swirling around in mine, in Elton's life. You have
Elton's love in Laura Nero and how there's crossover and
how him and I work together because of that kind
of understanding. Then there's Little Richard and the influence that's
(11:28):
had on Elden's life. And then you've got Swing for
the Fences, which is an anthem for young people.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But by the and you get a.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Little Light, which is about current events. But by the
time you get to Who Believes In Angels, you're hearing
a song about our experience together in that studio and
how really mystical it is that we ever even met
each other, that it ever even happened, And so you're
hearing a song that really encompasses what the album is,
you know, And you've got this Eldon John chorus that
(11:55):
just hits like a freight train, and it's just an
undeniably Elton John chorus, you know, from the moment you
hear the first few piano notes exactly who is about
to come in and sing that song? And then you
hear my voice instead, so it's jarring, and then Elton
John comes in and it makes sense. So that song
is just it sums up the whole album musically and lyrically.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Don't need to so hard. You don't have to wear
a time.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Sometimes, honest, it's being calm inside a live.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Not Then I then I loved? And what I still choose? You?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
What I fall on the same A rodeo queen breathing,
faring to the lie I have been?
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Then I'm what do you say? We said?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
The plan and trees aside? Even the diamonds look like
rocks to the untrained eye.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
What is it cost to buy a soul?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Bad? When you die?
Speaker 8 (13:38):
What are the angels gonna do with the humans?
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Is baytral Bree who real.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Color of the lies?
Speaker 7 (14:22):
Why I would die on that hill in a long
handed back.
Speaker 8 (14:28):
If you're not swinging first, you will never rid ride.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
I've been man, husband, What do you say? Was that?
Speaker 6 (14:45):
The pleasant trees aside?
Speaker 9 (14:50):
Even the diamonds lot fling loss to the US trained eye,
what is the costo five soul?
Speaker 8 (15:01):
But when you died, what are the visions can do best?
Speaker 6 (15:32):
Pleasant Ris Gonna uses the.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Span.
Speaker 8 (16:00):
There's no need to coach the stars about before you
bark when you need.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Someone to walk with in the darn.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
I've been there, I've done there. I've been there, I've
been I've been there.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
O love, I've been there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And also to like the whole album is us together
singing not one line she takes another line that with
harmony the whole way. And that's what I wanted if
I was going to recall. I wanted her voices so
special that I wanted to harmonize. She does most of
the lead lead lines. I harmonize a lot, which I
don't usually do, but it was so her voices together
(17:39):
goes so beautifully, and it was a real challenge to
harmonize to her voice because it's so pure, and so
it was. But the whole album is just like these
two people coming together and really making something together, really
beautifully and close together. The harmonies, the songs, the playing,
and it really exceeded all my expectations. It was difficult.
(18:02):
It was difficult to do because she phrases differently from
most people. When someone does a vocal and you have
to put the harmony on it, it's very difficult because
I phrase one way, she phrases another. And I think
there's one great scene in the film that you'll probably
see eventually where I get the lyrics and I just
tear them up and I say, I can't see these
bloody songs.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It throws them on the ground, and he goes, I'm
going to do another take and.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Goes and we had to steal them back together and
he goes, give me another one. Andrew goes, Helton, you're
so impatient. Yeah, I know. It was just frustration of
trying to be as good as she was.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
No.
Speaker 11 (18:41):
Yeah, but when he says, I don't phrase normal, but
I phrase like him in the nineties, Like when I
hear back to my phrasing, it's it's.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
The one made in England, big big picture, lion King.
That's my phrasing. That's when I learned to sing. So
there are moments like in Never Too Late, where.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I go don't let it crossing your mind, and I'm like, oh,
that is so Elton. It's uncanny actually times.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, who believes in angels?
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I do, and my podcast sponsors are angels here on Earth.
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learn about the other ways you can get involved. That's
Mercyships dot Org. Brandy, how old were you when you
first fell in love with Elton eleven eleven?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Fifth grade?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, And by the time I was in seventh grade,
there wasn't a piece of my wall that didn't have
an Elton jumposter or clipping.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And that was the nineties. It wasn't the seventies.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
It wasn't.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
It was like I knew.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I was just like I read the lyrics of Skyline Pigeon.
I had heard the music and I was a huge fan.
I went to the maiden England tour that to Come
at Home, where you played Come Down in Time, which.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I was there, I was there, the radio station I
was on back then, I think sponsored that. You know,
Brian got to go on stage with you.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
The Morning Guy did.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
But I actually think Brandy fell in love with the
lyrics before she fell in love with the melody, because
Bernie's lyrics and I've just been listening to some old
stuff of ours were just quite incredibly from a baby,
he said. I spoke to him last night and I said, God,
I've just listened to this old stuff and he said,
I was a baby. I was eighteen. I was nineteen
to write these kind of lyrics, and I think, to
(21:49):
be honest with you, the things went together, but I
think the lyrics. You're a great lyric writer because of Bernie. Yeah,
that's the reason I do it.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
It was true that the the first first existence of
else And I ever saw was I heard of his
kindness in a book report and then I read the
lyric to Skyline Pigeon, and I was already a fan
before i'd ever even heard him sing. So when I
heard that song and it all came together for me,
I was like, yeah, okay, I'm a singer songwriter now.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And you were a kid, but you knew as a
little kid, but I super knew it was destined.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it was destined. It's kiss me, It's fate. And
that's happened to me so many times my life. Meeting Bernie,
meeting Brandy, meeting David, my husband, meeting Andrew Whattt, the producer.
So many people have come into my life unexpectedly, but
they stayed in my life forever.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I know we don't have much time, but I have
to say, just watching the little clip that I got
to see, I can't wait to eat the whole meal,
to see the whole thing. But Andrew, what a force
to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I mean, yeah, yeah, he is something else. He's like,
I've never been in the studio with such an electric,
fine person who just pushes and pushes and is so
musical and understands exactly what's going on. He's extraordinary, extra extraordinary. Yeah,
he's just just a wall of charisma.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You can't get through it. It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It's almost like I was waiting for him to just
drop his human body. He's so electric energy like and
just be a flash of light or something. Because through
that little clip they sent me, he is nothing but
pure fun energy bouncing between you two.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Oh, and he loves Elton. He loves Elton.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
All we do when we get together, me and Andrew
is talk about Elton.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I speak to Andrew every day. He's so in my
life and I listen to all the things he does,
the Stones, Gaga, Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop, and I just
love him. And then he's just there's not a day
goes by why I don't speak to him unless he's traveling.
Speaker 10 (23:57):
Well.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
We are anxiously awaiting the new album. Thank you for
spending time with us. I can't wait to see the movie.
And I cannot tell you too how much I respect
and admire and appreciate. There's no words.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
There's no words, Heylina. When you hear the album, will
you let me know what you think of it?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I promise I will.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I promise I really value that.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Thank you all right, Love you guys, I.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Love you too. Thank you for your time. Thank you
bid Elia by Honni.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I can't believe I was fortunate enough to get a
few minutes with these two icons. Made my heart go
pitter pat for sure? Who believes in Angels? The single
is out now, download it, listen to it, love it,
and get ready for the full album coming in April.
It is going to be amazing. Here's what's been said
(24:56):
about it. It's an album as unexpect as it is triumphant.
Elton sounds utterly revitalized. Brandy 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 unequivocally the work of Elton John and
(25:21):
Brandy Carlisle, while sounding unlike any album either has ever
made before. I love these two artists so much. I
can't wait to hear the whole volume, all ten tracks
of what they've cooked up together. You can pre order
the album who Believes in Angels dot com. Consider it
(25:41):
a love letter to yourself. I hope you feel loved
and cherish this February fourteenth single No Problem by the Flowers.
Soak in a bubble bath, eat the chocolates. You are
worth it. But either before or after, drop a little
note into a neighbor's box, or the postal carrier or
(26:02):
a bestie. Give them a flower, a coffee card, a
box of conversation hearts. Whatever love you give will come
back to you tenfold. I promise. Happy Valentine's Day, my loves,
get out there and love someone
I love February for so many reasons. Firstly because sunset
happens after five o'clock, Secondly because it's the month of love,
sweet love, and thirdly, well because it's my birthday month. Okay,
so I'm not really that excited about the number I'm
celebrating these days, but the fact that I'm still able
(00:25):
to celebrate is amazing this year. Call it a Valentine's
gift or a Birthday gift, whatever you like, but a
dynamic duo by the names of Sir Elton John and
Brandy Carlyle have just wrapped up a beautiful new project
and presented it to the world. Brandy Carlyle is an
eleven time Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, performer and producer,
(00:50):
a two time Emmy Award winning composer, lyricist and writer,
a number one New York Times bestselling author, and an
activist who's known as one of music's most respected voices.
She just received her first OSCAR nomination in the Original
Song category for Never Too Late, a track written alongside
(01:11):
Elton John, Bernie Toppen, and Andrew Watt for the Disney
Plus documentary of the same name. On Elton's life and career.
Sir Elton John's career achievements to date are unsurpassed. He's
one of the top selling solo artists of all time
in the US and the UK charts alone. He has
(01:33):
over eighty five top forty hits, and he sold more
than three hundred million records worldwide. Among his many awards
and honors are six Grammys, a tony two Oscars, induction
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and a
(01:56):
Knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I for sir vises
to music and charitable services. In January of twenty four,
Elton joined Hollywood's elite group of Egott winners after securing
his first ever Emmy Award for his historic Disney Plus
(02:17):
Live concert special Elton John Live Farewell from Dodger Stadium.
Last week, Elton and Brandy announced details of their exciting
new collaborative studio album, Who Believes In Angels, set for
release on April fourth, while also unveiling the new single
(02:39):
from the album, the title cut, Who Believes In Angels.
The album's concept was devised by Elton and Brandy, as
well as multiple Grammy Award winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt.
It's a genuinely collaborative studio album Elton led and Brandy
(03:00):
led songs, with long term collaborator Bernie Toppin and Brandy
contributing lyrics, and producer and co writer Andrew acting as
the producer, the mediator, the creative conduit. It was written
and recorded completely from scratch in just twenty days, and
(03:21):
it's the first time Elton has allowed cameras to film
his writing and recording sessions, ultimately documenting the entire process,
the breakdowns, the breakthroughs, the tears, the torn up lyrics,
sheets and all. And guess what, they dropped in to
chat with us about it and are letting me share
the single with everyone listening. We'll catch up with Sir
(03:46):
Elton and Brandy right after I catch you up on
one of the podcast sponsors that help bring this conversation
to you. Have you been looking for a milk replacement
because you have dairy allergies sensitivities. Well, I found one
that's absolutely amazing. It's Sherry's hazel Cream made from Oregon hazelnuts.
(04:11):
This plant based milk stands out from the competitors because
it's designed for cooking and baking. It all started because Sherry,
who could no longer tolerate dairy products, wanted to make gravy,
but not gravy that tasted like coconut or oatmeal. So
by enlisting the help of her engineer husband and a
(04:32):
friend that's a food scientist, and through much trial and error,
Sherry's Hazel Cream was born. Because of a special roasting process.
It's very neutral and taste and works with a large
variety of recipes. It comes sealed in shelf stable, easy
to use, pre measured portion pods that you place into
(04:54):
your blender, add varying amounts of water to make milk
cream or even condem minced milk for pies and other
mouth watering desserts. It's delicious and mashed potatoes and cakes,
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(05:15):
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C h e Ris Hazelcream dot com. Use code love
twenty four for ten percent off your order. That's Sherries
(05:35):
Hazel Cream and Love twenty four. Hi Elton, Hi Brandy,
what an honor. Thank you so much. I am so
blessed and flattered and what an opportunity and I can't
wait to jump into this. Twenty nineteen, I brought like
half my family to the Tacomadome and we got to
(05:59):
go backstage to meet you. And I had ordered Elton
John glasses for all of us before the show, and
so here we are in the green room and in walks,
Brandy and your family, and I got to experience, like
a fly on the wall, the most beautiful exchange of
(06:22):
energy when I saw you to embrace.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yep, it was magical. It was magical. The first time
we ever met was in Las Vegas, when Brandy came
to Vegas and she'd asked me if i'd write play
on a song, and I said, of course, if you
can come to Vegas because I was there in residency.
So she did, and before we even started recording, there
was a magic that it was like we'd been friends
(06:47):
all our life. That that happens sometimes when you meet people.
She has been a friend since then, and the friendship
has grown and grown and our family spent time together,
and now we've made music together. She's a here with
me on stage. I've appeared with her at Joney Jams,
the Johnny Mitchell concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Yeah, she's
(07:08):
a very very important part of our life, and so
is her family, and we go on holiday together. In fact,
never too late the song for the Oscars, Brandy watched
a kind of rough cut of the documentary A Nice
and then started to write this song, and it became
the song that eventually happened on the album. But yeah,
(07:32):
she was responsible for that, and it's been an amazing
friendship and it's so glad we got to make a
record together. I've always wanted to make a record together
for the last five years, and this was the ideal
time to do it, after the tour finished.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Seeing the two of you together and getting to experience
that if I could paint it, it would be like
these intense colors coming together and swirling and blending and
making a whole new color. And now to see you
guys doing the song, doing the album, I can't believe
(08:07):
I got to be there to see it, and now
I get to talk to you about it.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
So we're so throwed with the album. We wrote it
and recorded it within three weeks, and the electricity was
flying in that studio because of her, because of Bernie talking,
because of Andrew what the producer. I've never worked with
four people on a project before, and it was just
so intense and so justifiable. It was amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Brandy. I got to watch. They sent me a little
sneak peek of the making of the album. It's just
a little screener they sent me, and you looked Brandy.
First off, you look like a teenager. Just your body
energy and the way you were setting and the way
you were becoming one with the music. You looked ageless.
(08:56):
I mean you both did. But I kept looking at
you like squinting at the screen, going Okay, this isn't ai.
I know this is real. But your energy was so
pure and so young and youthful, and the music is
so young and fun.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Wow, thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
I would definitely say my teenage self was writing Shotgun
that whole process, and I was just really I just
let it happen. I let myself go back to being thirteen,
fourteen years old because I was going back to school.
I was ready to go to school and unknow everything
I knew and really be open to anything that could happen.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
She has the energy of a teenager, and so do I.
But inside that energy on this album was a grumpy
old man.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
No and e start.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I was grumpy and it's delight it. It's all filmed.
The whole writing process, the whole recording process has been
filmed by nine cameras and so eventually you'll get to
see what it was like. But I was tired and
I had self doubt, incredible self doubt, and Brandy, Bernie
and Andrew pushed me through the process, pushed me to
the other side. And when I got to the other
(10:05):
side and felt their love and energy, the album just flew.
I mean it just flew. And it was one of
the greatest artistic processes that I've been involved with from
an artist point of view, because she was so great
to me, and she just she put up with me.
She was very measured, she knew how to get around me.
(10:27):
She was just so great, and the process started off
very shakily and ended up just off the charts. It's
like we were in another planet.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to
experience the whole thing I got to hear. They sent
me the title kuit and I listened to it Who
Believes In Angels, and then I listened to it again,
and then I had to listen to it again because
there's so much going on. It's like kind of like
(11:00):
like biting into something and it just there's just more
and more and more and more to it.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Well it makes sense, I mean, Who Believes In Angels
is fascinating track because all the other songs that are
on the album are about these kind of things that
are swirling around in mine, in Elton's life. You have
Elton's love in Laura Nero and how there's crossover and
how him and I work together because of that kind
of understanding. Then there's Little Richard and the influence that's
(11:28):
had on Elden's life. And then you've got Swing for
the Fences, which is an anthem for young people.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But by the and you get a.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Little Light, which is about current events. But by the
time you get to Who Believes In Angels, you're hearing
a song about our experience together in that studio and
how really mystical it is that we ever even met
each other, that it ever even happened, And so you're
hearing a song that really encompasses what the album is,
you know, And you've got this Eldon John chorus that
(11:55):
just hits like a freight train, and it's just an
undeniably Elton John chorus, you know, from the moment you
hear the first few piano notes exactly who is about
to come in and sing that song? And then you
hear my voice instead, so it's jarring, and then Elton
John comes in and it makes sense. So that song
is just it sums up the whole album musically and lyrically.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Don't need to so hard. You don't have to wear
a time.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Sometimes, honest, it's being calm inside a live.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Not Then I then I loved? And what I still choose? You?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
What I fall on the same A rodeo queen breathing,
faring to the lie I have been?
Speaker 6 (13:11):
Then I'm what do you say? We said?
Speaker 7 (13:18):
The plan and trees aside? Even the diamonds look like
rocks to the untrained eye.
Speaker 6 (13:32):
What is it cost to buy a soul?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Bad? When you die?
Speaker 8 (13:38):
What are the angels gonna do with the humans?
Speaker 6 (13:53):
Is baytral Bree who real.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Color of the lies?
Speaker 7 (14:22):
Why I would die on that hill in a long
handed back.
Speaker 8 (14:28):
If you're not swinging first, you will never rid ride.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
I've been man, husband, What do you say? Was that?
Speaker 6 (14:45):
The pleasant trees aside?
Speaker 9 (14:50):
Even the diamonds lot fling loss to the US trained eye,
what is the costo five soul?
Speaker 8 (15:01):
But when you died, what are the visions can do best?
Speaker 6 (15:32):
Pleasant Ris Gonna uses the.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Span.
Speaker 8 (16:00):
There's no need to coach the stars about before you
bark when you need.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Someone to walk with in the darn.
Speaker 10 (16:15):
I've been there, I've done there. I've been there, I've
been I've been there.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
O love, I've been there.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
And also to like the whole album is us together
singing not one line she takes another line that with
harmony the whole way. And that's what I wanted if
I was going to recall. I wanted her voices so
special that I wanted to harmonize. She does most of
the lead lead lines. I harmonize a lot, which I
don't usually do, but it was so her voices together
(17:39):
goes so beautifully, and it was a real challenge to
harmonize to her voice because it's so pure, and so
it was. But the whole album is just like these
two people coming together and really making something together, really
beautifully and close together. The harmonies, the songs, the playing,
and it really exceeded all my expectations. It was difficult.
(18:02):
It was difficult to do because she phrases differently from
most people. When someone does a vocal and you have
to put the harmony on it, it's very difficult because
I phrase one way, she phrases another. And I think
there's one great scene in the film that you'll probably
see eventually where I get the lyrics and I just
tear them up and I say, I can't see these
bloody songs.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
It throws them on the ground, and he goes, I'm
going to do another take and.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Goes and we had to steal them back together and
he goes, give me another one. Andrew goes, Helton, you're
so impatient. Yeah, I know. It was just frustration of
trying to be as good as she was.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
No.
Speaker 11 (18:41):
Yeah, but when he says, I don't phrase normal, but
I phrase like him in the nineties, Like when I
hear back to my phrasing, it's it's.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
The one made in England, big big picture, lion King.
That's my phrasing. That's when I learned to sing. So
there are moments like in Never Too Late, where.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I go don't let it crossing your mind, and I'm like, oh,
that is so Elton. It's uncanny actually times.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, who believes in angels?
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I do, and my podcast sponsors are angels here on Earth.
I'm so glad to get to share all that Mercy
Ships is doing in the world with you. They travel
to medical deserts, providing free, life changing surgeries to people
in need, led by an all volunteer crew. They've been
(19:45):
putting their faith into action for almost fifty years. Mercy
Ships is all about impact. They performed nearly one hundred
and twenty thousand free surgeries to date and touched more
than two million lives. But more than the numbers, it's
about dreams restored and lives renewed. It's about loving someone.
(20:10):
You can be a part of this amazing organization. When
you support Mercyships, you experience the joy and transformation a
mother seeing her child for the first time, a child
finally able to run and play and dream and just
be a kid. Visit mercyships dot org to give or
(20:34):
learn about the other ways you can get involved. That's
Mercyships dot Org. Brandy, how old were you when you
first fell in love with Elton eleven eleven?
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Fifth grade?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, And by the time I was in seventh grade,
there wasn't a piece of my wall that didn't have
an Elton jumposter or clipping.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And that was the nineties. It wasn't the seventies.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
It wasn't.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
It was like I knew.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
I was just like I read the lyrics of Skyline Pigeon.
I had heard the music and I was a huge fan.
I went to the maiden England tour that to Come
at Home, where you played Come Down in Time, which.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Blew my mind.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I was there, I was there, the radio station I
was on back then, I think sponsored that. You know,
Brian got to go on stage with you.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
I didn't.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
The Morning Guy did.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
But I actually think Brandy fell in love with the
lyrics before she fell in love with the melody, because
Bernie's lyrics and I've just been listening to some old
stuff of ours were just quite incredibly from a baby,
he said. I spoke to him last night and I said, God,
I've just listened to this old stuff and he said,
I was a baby. I was eighteen. I was nineteen
to write these kind of lyrics, and I think, to
(21:49):
be honest with you, the things went together, but I
think the lyrics. You're a great lyric writer because of Bernie. Yeah,
that's the reason I do it.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
It was true that the the first first existence of
else And I ever saw was I heard of his
kindness in a book report and then I read the
lyric to Skyline Pigeon, and I was already a fan
before i'd ever even heard him sing. So when I
heard that song and it all came together for me,
I was like, yeah, okay, I'm a singer songwriter now.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And you were a kid, but you knew as a
little kid, but I super knew it was destined.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah, it was destined. It's kiss me, It's fate. And
that's happened to me so many times my life. Meeting Bernie,
meeting Brandy, meeting David, my husband, meeting Andrew Whattt, the producer.
So many people have come into my life unexpectedly, but
they stayed in my life forever.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I know we don't have much time, but I have
to say, just watching the little clip that I got
to see, I can't wait to eat the whole meal,
to see the whole thing. But Andrew, what a force
to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I mean, yeah, yeah, he is something else. He's like,
I've never been in the studio with such an electric,
fine person who just pushes and pushes and is so
musical and understands exactly what's going on. He's extraordinary, extra extraordinary. Yeah,
he's just just a wall of charisma.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
You can't get through it. It's incredible.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
It's almost like I was waiting for him to just
drop his human body. He's so electric energy like and
just be a flash of light or something. Because through
that little clip they sent me, he is nothing but
pure fun energy bouncing between you two.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Oh, and he loves Elton. He loves Elton.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
All we do when we get together, me and Andrew
is talk about Elton.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I speak to Andrew every day. He's so in my
life and I listen to all the things he does,
the Stones, Gaga, Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop, and I just
love him. And then he's just there's not a day
goes by why I don't speak to him unless he's traveling.
Speaker 10 (23:57):
Well.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
We are anxiously awaiting the new album. Thank you for
spending time with us. I can't wait to see the movie.
And I cannot tell you too how much I respect
and admire and appreciate. There's no words.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
There's no words, Heylina. When you hear the album, will
you let me know what you think of it?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
I promise I will.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
I promise I really value that.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Thank you all right, Love you guys, I.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Love you too. Thank you for your time. Thank you
bid Elia by Honni.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I can't believe I was fortunate enough to get a
few minutes with these two icons. Made my heart go
pitter pat for sure? Who believes in Angels? The single
is out now, download it, listen to it, love it,
and get ready for the full album coming in April.
It is going to be amazing. Here's what's been said
(24:56):
about it. It's an album as unexpect as it is triumphant.
Elton sounds utterly revitalized. Brandy 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 unequivocally the work of Elton John and
(25:21):
Brandy Carlisle, while sounding unlike any album either has ever
made before. I love these two artists so much. I
can't wait to hear the whole volume, all ten tracks
of what they've cooked up together. You can pre order
the album who Believes in Angels dot com. Consider it
(25:41):
a love letter to yourself. I hope you feel loved
and cherish this February fourteenth single No Problem by the Flowers.
Soak in a bubble bath, eat the chocolates. You are
worth it. But either before or after, drop a little
note into a neighbor's box, or the postal carrier or
(26:02):
a bestie. Give them a flower, a coffee card, a
box of conversation hearts. Whatever love you give will come
back to you tenfold. I promise. Happy Valentine's Day, my loves,
get out there and love someone
Host
Delilah
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