Elton John & Brandi Carlile- Who Believes in Angels?
Label: Interscope
Producer: Andrew Watt
A collaborative album of powerhouse proportions, Who Believes in Angels? immediately ranks among one of the most anticipated and buzz-worthy releases of 2025, and for many good reasons. For starters, duets records just aren’t the regular occurrence that they used to be in previous rock music eras and meanwhile, the timing of an Elton John-Brandi Carlile union just seems perfectly on-time for both artists in the present moment. Coming off the heels of his highly acclaimed farewell tour, Elton has made it clear in various press rounds that he would not extend his creative and recorded legacy with just any standard album release; he would require a special, magic ingredient in order to return to the studio. Enter Brandi Carlile, who at this point has ascended as an artistic beacon in the 2020s across any genre of music, and in recent years has rapidly accelerated her collaborative endeavors as both a performer and a producer. A record of duets with perhaps her greatest influence seems to be the ultimate moment it’s all been building towards.
And their collaborative union here does indeed seem to strike pure magic in every way imaginable. From the glorious harmonies of their equally passionate and powerful vocals, to the creative vision shared between them, producer Andrew Watt and Elton’s legendary lyrical muse, Bernie Taupin, to the perspective shared by their individual paths as queer musicians in two vastly different generations. It all just seems to blend together in such gorgeously seamless fashion. In so many prominent ways, Carlile represents the realization of all the foundational work, both creatively and socially, achieved by Elton in his own era of popular music. She sounds both proud and positively giddy to create this music with her hero, and John likewise sounds just as overjoyed and creatively invigorated to help one of his successors carry forward the magic of his music. Angels sounds like both a vintage Brandi record, and a vintage Elton record; the precise kind of musical lovechild you’d expect the intersection of their catalogs to sound like. This all contributes to the magical spark surrounding this record, and thankfully the music itself lives up to these daunting expectations and performances.
Sonically, Watt has crafted a grandiose cosmic rock sound as the album’s stirring centerpiece. It naturally sounds as a modern Elton John record would be expected to, while also building upon the stylistic Elton-meets-Bowie soundscape that Carlile had brilliantly curated on her 2021 predecessor, Right On Time. It’s certainly a heavily and theatrically produced album; at times it feels like the sheer volume of it all it might swell too much. But that never ultimately occurs, equally in part to the power of Carlile’s peak-period vocals but also Elton’s own classic voice, which remains an awe-inspiring vessel all its own at 78 years of age. The classically alluring and inspired nature of the songs gathered helps as well, leaving all of the rousing sonic character and soaring vocals feel perfectly in service to the anthemic nature and stories of the songs themselves.
The opening one-two punch of “The Ghost of Laura Nyro” and “Little Richard’s Bible” sets the tone perfectly, bursting out of a colorful, old-school rock & roll canon, while paying exuberant homage to both the musical spirit and trailblazing presence of two other queer rock icons who helped lead the way for both John and Carlile. This surging, kaleidoscopic rock energy carries through other ravenous highlights like the title track, “Swing For the Fences”, and “The River Man”. There are slightly more tempered moments that tap into the equally rewarding tender sides of both artists, namely “You Without Me”, “A Little Light”, “Someone To Belong To”, and especially album centerpiece, “Never Too Late”. The latter recently anchored John’s farewell concert documentary, and can’t help but feel like the kind of late-career declaration that all artists of John’s caliber deserve to achieve at this stage of their story. Perhaps the only other moment that proves to be more moving in this context is the album’s show-stopping finale, “When This Old World Is Done With Me”. Here, Carlile reverently steps into the shadows and allows her legendary mentor to deliver the kind of classic-Elton John piano ballads that have come to define his inimitable legacy. It admittedly feels like the farewell moment from one of our beloved heroes, especially given the extended piano solo that serves as a bittersweet outro. There’s no confirmation that it’s what this performance is, especially given the impressive power and quality with which Elton is still singing with here. But if he decides he wants this to be the high note he leaves us on, it certainly proves to be worthy of such prominence.
Regardless of which specific benchmark it proves to be in their respective careers, Who Believes In Angels? proves to be a richly rewarding triumph that both Elton John and Brandi Carlile should be proud of, and equally grateful to the other for sharing together. It offers all of the essential ingredients that every high-water rock album should provide, delivering a fun, colorful, and passionate vibrancy on a scale that only the greatest musical moments can provide. If there are indeed angels to believe in, they’re certainly singing along to this.
Track List:
- “The Rose of Laura Nyro” (Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Bernie Taupin, Andrew Watt, Laura Nyro)
- “Little Richard’s Bible” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “Swing For the Fences” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “Never Too Late” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “You Without Me” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “Who Believes In Angels?” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “The River Man” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “A Little Light” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “Someone To Belong To” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
- “When This Old World Is Done With Me” (John, Carlile, Taupin, Watt)
The 706 
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