Learn to Fly

The Lockdown Sessions is a collaborative studio album by English musician Elton John, released through EMI in the United Kingdom and Interscope Records in the United States on 22 October 2021.[1] It was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, after John was forced to pause his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour due to lockdown.[2] The album includes three singles: "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" with Dua Lipa, "After All" with Charlie Puth, and "Finish Line" with Stevie Wonder. A 2022 reissue of the album includes "Merry Christmas" with Ed Sheeran and "Hold Me Closer" with Britney Spears.

The Lockdown Sessions was a critical and commercial success, being praised for its performances and diversity. "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" topped the UK Singles Chart while "Hold Me Closer" reached number 3; both singles also reached the top 10 in the US.

Background

The album features several previously released tracks: "Learn to Fly", released in June 2020; "Chosen Family", John`s duet with Rina Sawayama on her Sawayama album;[3] Gorillaz` track "The Pink Phantom" from their 2020 album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, on which John appears as a guest alongside 6lack; John`s cover of the Pet Shop Boys` "It`s a Sin" along with Years & Years, released in May 2021;[3] Miley Cyrus` version of "Nothing Else Matters" featuring John alongside various other guests (including Andrew Watt, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Trujillo and Chad Smith), released in June 2021 from the Metallica tribute album The Metallica Blacklist; and John`s collaboration with Lil Nas X "One of Me", from Lil Nas X`s debut studio album Montero.

Besides these, the record also features collaborations with other artists including Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Brandi Carlile, Charlie Puth, Stevie Wonder, Nicki Minaj, Young Thug, Stevie Nicks, and Glen Campbell.[4][5][3]

John explained the project in a statement: "Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I`d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were 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. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, 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."[6]

When talking about his collaboration with Surfaces on the song "Learn to Fly", John tweeted: "When the guys first sent me the song, I just loved it. It was an honour to lend my vocals and some piano."[7] In a statement, Surfaces said: "After a series of Zoom studio sessions, we were able to record together from quarantine. Working with Elton felt like the idea of winning a Grammy. He was so passionate and driven and we couldn’t have wished for a more effortless collaboration."[8]

A music video to accompany the release of "Learn to Fly" was released onto YouTube on June 24, 2020.[9] It was made in collaboration with director and illustrator Ivan Dixon, who also provided the visuals for Surfaces` song "Bloom", and was produced by Sean Zwan from Studio Showoff.[10]

When the album hit number-one in the UK Albums Chart on 29 October 2021, John said "I am so proud of what we have created"[11] and wrote on his social media accounts:

"This album is all about the capacity for music to bring people together to form new friendships and connections and right now I couldn`t feel more connected to my amazing fans in the UK who made this happen.

When I started collaborating with some of my favourite artists at the start of the pandemic, I couldn`t have dreamt in my wildest dreams it would lead to a number one album. I am so proud of what we have created and thrilled that it has connected with our fans to such a degree. It shows the spirit of collaboration and togetherness that can still happen in the most trying circumstances.

Thank you to everyone who helped bring this album to life—I love you all. ❤"

— Elton John[12]

Singles

The lead single, "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" with Dua Lipa, combines elements of John`s 1989 song "Sacrifice", his 1972 single "Rocket Man", his 1976 album track "Where`s the Shoorah?" from Blue Moves and his 1983 single "Kiss the Bride", and was released on 13 August 2021. On 15 October 2021, the single peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart. This was John`s first UK number one in 16 years, since 2005`s posthumous Tupac Shakur collaboration "Ghetto Gospel".[13]

The album`s official second single, "After All", is a collaboration with American singer Charlie Puth. It was released on 22 September 2021.[14][15][16]

The album`s official third single, "Finish Line", is a collaboration with American singer Stevie Wonder. It was released on 30 September 2021.[17][18] "Finish Line" failed to chart on the Official UK Top 100, but debuted at number 73 on the Official UK Singles Sales Chart Top 100 on 28 January 2022[19]

Critical reception

The Lockdown Sessions received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 70 based on ten reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[21] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 6.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[20]

Gary Ryan from NME gave it four out of five stars, saying: "All in all, The Lockdown Sessions` all-bets-off stylistic game of spin-the-bottle feels attuned to 2021`s post-genre Spotify world, as Elton continues to further his musical universe".[24] Rich Wilhelm of PopMatters also gave the album a positive review, giving it a rating of 8/10. Praise was directed at the wide variety of collaborators and genres John works with on the album; Wilhelm also credits Wott`s production on many of the album`s tracks as contributing to its success.[26]

Commercial performance

The album was released on 22 October 2021, and in the OCC`s UK midweek chart update on 25 October, the album was described as being in a "four way battle" with Duran Duran`s Future Past, Lana Del Rey`s Blue Banisters and Biffy Clyro`s The Myth of the Happily Ever After for the number-one position.[29] It later became John`s eighth number-one album in the UK on 29 October 2021, his first number-one album since 2012`s Good Morning to the Night.[30]

The Lockdown Sessions achieved 31,000 chart sales in the UK, 84% of which were physical (CD and vinyl) sales in the first week. It was John`s second number one in the UK in less than a month – "Cold Heart (Pnau remix)" with Dua Lipa reached number one on the UK Singles Chart earlier in the month.[31] In the United States, the album debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 29,000 album-equivalent units, 17,000 of that sum were pure album copies, it went straight to number four on the U.S. Top Album Sales chart.[32][33]

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for The Lockdown Sessions

Release history

Release dates and formats for The Lockdown Sessions