The David LaChapelle-directed clip is available now
Elton John and Brandi Carlile have unveiled the music video for their new single “Who Believes In Angels?” Directed by visionary photographer and director David LaChapelle, the video follows Wednesday’s announcement of Elton and Brandi’s collaborative studio album Who Believes In Angels?, set for release on April 4th via Interscope Records.
David LaChapelle and Elton are regular collaborators, having first met when David photographed Elton for Interview Magazine in 1998. They’ve worked together many times since then, with David directing the music videos for Elton’s tracks “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore” with Justin Timberlake, and “Original Sin” with Elizabeth Taylor and Mandy Moore, as well as shooting the poster for Elton’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour and directing his Red Piano residency in Las Vegas. David’s celebrated “Egg on You Face” photo is one of the crown jewels in Elton and David Furnish’s photography collection, which was recently on show at London’s V&A Museum for their Fragile Beauty exhibition.
The new video is a kaleidoscopic tribute to the rock & roll angels who continue to inspire successive generations. It finds Elton and Brandi performing on a giant pinball machine, playing a winged piano and guitar respectively, while Tina Turner and Little Richard shimmy amongst pink clouds and neon lights.
The concept for Who Believes In Angels? was devised by close friends and regular collaborators Elton John, eleven-time Grammy-winning US superstar Brandi Carlile and multiple Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter Andrew Watt. They set out to create a genuinely collaborative studio album between Elton and Brandi. The album would mix Elton-led songs and Brandi-led songs, with long-term collaborator Bernie Taupin and Brandi both contributing lyrics and producer and co-writer Andrew Watt acting as the producer, mediator and creative conduit. Entering Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound Studios in October 2023 with a completely blank slate, they pushed each other out of their comfort zones to write and record an album completely from scratch in just 20 days. They would be backed by a world-class band of musicians comprising of Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Pino Palladino (Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan and David Gilmour) and Josh Klinghoffer (Pearl Jam, Beck).
This is the first time that Elton has allowed cameras to film his writing and recording sessions. Static cameras positioned around the studio captured thousands of hours of raw footage and ultimately documented the entire creative process – breakdowns, breakthroughs, tears, torn-up lyric sheets and all. The candid footage offers fans an unprecedented, searingly honest insight into the emotionally turbulent creative process for Elton, Brandi and the rest of the team.
The ten-part series capturing the making of Who Believes in Angels? Stories On The Edge of Creation is executive produced by Michael D. Ratner, Scott Ratner, Arlen Konopaki, Miranda Sherman and co-executive produced by Kfir Goldberg and Raquel Dominguez for OBB Pictures, the film and television division of OBB Media. Also serving as executive producers on the series are David Furnish, Catherine Carlile and Rachael Paley, and Rafael Britto as a supervising producer.
Carlile penned the lyrics and John the theme to the title track, before Watt joined them to bring it all together. From the opening piano chords, it’s unmistakably a slice of classic Elton John, that at once manages to nod to past glories whilst sounding thoroughly modern and forward-looking. Brandi’s soaring vocals meld exquisitely with Elton’s on a towering synth-charged chorus, as hard-hitting as many of his best-loved classics.
Who Believes In Angels? also features the 2025 Oscar-nominated song “Never Too Late,” created especially for the Disney+ documentary of the same name and unveiled last year. A beautiful, reflective and ultimately uplifting story of finding happiness and redemption in love and family, “Never Too Late” is the truly fitting finale to the documentary that plays out over the credits of the documentary of the same name. The documentary follows John as he looks back on his life and the astonishing early days of his 50-year career in an emotionally charged, intimate and inspiring full-circle journey. Directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish the documentary is available on Disney+ now.
