Elton John is releasing an album of collaborations with special guests including Lil Nas X, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Stevie Wonder.
The Lockdown Sessions, a collection of 16 songs, will be released on 22 October by EMI Universal, the label and John announced on 1 September.
The pandemic project was spurred by John having to pause his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour in March 2020, and by his Apple Music talk show “Rocket Hour,” on which he has spoken with many of the featured artists.
The tracks were recorded remotely or in studios with Covid safety measures in place.
John said it pushed him into very unfamiliar musical territory, dipping into hip-hop, country and electronic dance music, sometimes in the same song.
“The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album,” he said in a statement. “But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up and I’ve ended with a selection of really interesting and diverse stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory.
“I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late Sixties, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”
The opening track with Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)," was released earlier this month.
