Britney’s again, bitch.

Just after weeks of teases, nostalgic address art, and a bizarrely haphazard debut at a French cafe, Elton John has unveiled “Maintain Me Closer,” his new collaboration with Britney Spears that formally ends her 6-12 months musical drought.

And what a thirst-quencher it is. Spears’ observe history of collaborations has not generally been stellar—for each and every Madonna and Rihanna smash she’s had, there’s been an unlucky Iggy Azalea or G-Eazy misstep. Fortunately, this one’s a winner that finds Spears back again in a acquainted club groove, only somewhat shedding the robo-Britney vocal results that plagued her write-up-Blackout releases and rather unlocking the deeper register we (last but not least) received to listen to on her last studio album, 2016’s underrated Glory.

Her vocals listed here are somewhat subdued, but she’s a properly good match for John, as the pop royals produce the perfectly-worn refrain of “Tiny Dancer,” filtered by way of a Euro disco club lens. This is not Russell Hammond melancholily singing along to “Tiny Dancer” the morning just after an acid-fueled bender. This is more like what occurred the night prior to, when he was motivated to scream “I’m a golden god!” from a rooftop. In other text, it’s fun. Breezy. Euphoric, even, primarily when Spears tosses in some playful advert-libs and a few of her legendary “baby’s” and “mmm-yeah’s.”

Much like “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix),” John’s hit 2021 collaboration with Dua Lipa, “Hold Me Closer” is a slick mash-up of vintage Elton tunes. The new tune characteristics that aforementioned “Tiny Dancer” chorus, though the verses are taken from “The Just one,” the sweeping, piano-pushed title monitor of his 23rd studio album, produced in 1992.

And that’s in which we get some poignant context for this new collab. The One was John’s initially album subsequent his rehabilitation from drug and liquor addiction. The singer’s manager John Rein explained to the Los Angeles Occasions in 1992, “He had experienced a lot of worry heading in to make the album mainly because he hadn’t built an album sober [in some time].” John afterwards discussed to Rolling Stone, “I was made use of to producing documents beneath the haze of…