Elton John has surprised diners at Cannes restaurant La Guérite by playing a segment of his forthcoming collaborative single with Britney Spears, ‘Hold Me Closer’.

John’s Instagram page livestreamed the singer heading to a DJ booth at the restaurant, greeting the DJs and then getting them to play the single. John announced the song over a wireless microphone, and proceeded to sing his parts over it.

Watch the full livestream below:

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As the song’s title suggests, ‘Hold Me Closer’ includes an interpolation of the chorus from John’s 1971 hit ‘Tiny Dancer’. The song also includes an interpolation of ‘The One’, the title track to his 1992 album. As noted by Variety, this reworking of John’s back catalogue mirrors the format used on ‘Cold Heart’, his 2021 Number One single with Dua Lipa and PNAU.

‘Hold Me Closer’ will also mark the first official single to feature Spears since the termination of her conservatorship last year. Her last single to date was 2020’s ‘Matches’, a collaboration with the Backstreet Boys, which appeared on the deluxe reissue of her 2016 album ‘Glory’.

John is currently taking part in the recommenced Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which was interrupted in 2020 on account of the pandemic and will now see John touring again until at least 2023.