Britney Spears releases single with Elton John, first song in six years

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Britney Spears has released a new single with Elton John, marking her first new song in six years.

The song, "Hold Me Closer," was released on Thursday, and is a new take on John's 1971 classic "Tiny Dancer."

Spears previously teased the song on Instagram on Wednesday, with a small snippet featuring her and John working on the collaboration.

"You can bet your bottom dollar that THIS collaboration will heighten my year by joining your brilliant hands of play," Spears wrote on the post.

"Thank you for your generosity and just thinking of me to join you on such a brilliant song," she added. "How cool is it to be a background voice ON YOUR song! Sir Elton I did it thanks to your genius, creative, and legendary mind! am so grateful!"

The British superstar had himself announced the Friday release date of the single in his own Instagram post.

While Spears did drop some unreleased songs from her 2016 album Glory in 2020, "Hold Me Closer" marks the pop icon's first new song since that album was released.

The troubled Spears has been in headlines around the world in recent years due to her ongoing fight to free herself from the conservatorship of her father James Spears, in a legal battle that had ensued for over a decade.

Investigations by a number of diligent journalists, as well as a high-profile social media campaign surrounding Spears called #FreeBritney, would eventually result in a judge freeing Spears from the conservatorship in November 2021.

Her case would highlight the controversies surrounding conservatorships in the U.S. A number of efforts in Congress have since been undertaken to try and limit someone's ability to abuse a conservatorship.

This includes bipartisan legislation that has been introduced, as well as a bipartisan hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Following the end of her conservatorship, Spears married her now-husband Sam Asghari this past June.

For John, this type of musical collaboration is nothing new.

The singer topped the charts once again in 2021 with The Lockdown Sessions.

The album, recorded remotely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, featured collaborations with a number of famous pop musicians.

This includes the single "Cold Heart (Pnau remix) with superstar Dua Lipa, which would become John's first U.K. No. 1 song in 16 years.

He also performed the songs "After All" with Charlie Puth and "Finish Line" with Stevie Wonder.

The album itself would also go on to hit No. 1 on the charts in the U.K., something John said he was "so proud of."