eltonjohn/Instagram
Raging rocketman.
Elton John threw a temper tantrum while recording his new album, as just-released behind-the-scene footage reveals.
The “I’m Still Standing” singer, 77, announced the album “Who Believes in Angels?,” his first in four years, in an Instagram post on Wednesday. A joint effort with Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, the LP was recorded in just 20 days back in October 2023 when John was fresh off the success of his Dodgers Stadium and Glastonbury performances.
Wanting to create something unlike any of his past work, John made the unprecedented decision to welcome cameras into the studio to document the making of the album. As clips shared by the Grammy winner in his Instagram post revealed, the process was anything but smooth sailing.
“I was a nightmare,” John confesses in a voice-over accompanying the video, which was released to promote the forthcoming album.
The icon appeared testy and even downright furious at times in the teaser, going so far as to tear up a piece of sheet music after a heated exchange.
When Watt asked during a studio session whether he was ready to record, John dryly retorted, “Why do you think I am sitting here?”
Watt grew frustrated himself, at one point telling the singer, “I am just trying to make the song as best as it can be. You are so impatient!”
In what looks to be a moment from that same day, John threw down his headphones on a piano and angrily exclaimed through gritted teeth, “It’s a f—ing nightmare!”
“I am having a hard time connecting to Elton,” Carlisle admitted in one clip.
“Elton is prone to bouts of insecurity especially where the stakes are high,” she added in voiceover. “There were times when I thought why does he want to do this.”
Discussing his bouts of frustration, John said, “The reality is, I was exhausted. I had a lot of doubt. I was a nightmare. I was angry, I was tired, I was irritable.”
“I felt, ‘I don’t want to do it.’”
He stuck with the project, however, because he realized “there were other people involved, I can’t abandon it.”
Happily, the creative juices finally “all started to flow” and the “fog started to lift,” John shared.
“I wanted to play better, sing better, write better and challenge myself at the age I am.”
“This came out the way I wanted it to come out,” John said of the album.
The video closes with an emotional moment as John cries tears of joy at his piano.
Fits of fury have long plagued the star, who previously documented them in his 1997 documentary, “Elton John: Tantrums and Tiaras,” which he produced and his husband David Furnish directed.
The eponymous single off of “Who Believes in Angels?” was released Wednesday.
The full album drops April 4.