“I always admired his thinking”: the artist Elton John said lives and breathes music
The best artists in the world never treat their craft like a typical nine-to-five job. This is a lifestyle for everyone who decides to take the plunge, and whenever someone like Elton John steps onstage, you know it’s coming from a place of genuine passion and love rather than trying to squeeze whatever amount of money he can out of his audience. He knows that his craft is why he’s here, and he can recognise even if it’s not in the same genre as he is.
First and foremost, John never lost his reputation for being a genuine fan of music. He was always in love with finding the right single that he couldn’t get out of his head ever since he was a kid, and it’s not out of question to see him scouring the pop charts to see what’s new in the field, whether it’s working with seasoned songwriters like Brandi Carlile or appearing onstage with Chappelle Roan for some karaoke.
It might be all in good fun for him whenever he takes the stage now, but there are countless moments when he knows to take things seriously. It wasn’t clear whether the thought of him hooking up with artists like Kanye West or Gorillaz was anything more than a novelty, but whenever he showed up on one of their tracks, he was determined to make sure that he left every single person in that studio with their mouths on the floor.
Outside of being one of the greatest musicians the pop world has ever seen, though, John also understood what it meant to serve the song. Countless musicians might get lost in the idea of making the song that best showcases their talent, but there are many times when simplicity is the way to go, and that’s normally the right call whenever John had to lend his skills to someone completely different like Queens of the Stone Age or Alice in Chains.
For as much of a seasoned veteran as he was, though, John seemed to be one of the few from his generation to be genuinely interested in hip-hop. Whereas most people would have been thinking that rap left out the letter ‘c’ when naming the genre, there was some serious craftsmanship that went into every great hip-hop record, and when John began working with Eminem, he knew that he was working with a fellow genius.
Compared to the number of albums John puts out, he said that he felt a kindred spirit in how Eminem writes, saying, “Eminem lives, sleeps and breathes music — he’s a bit like me in that respect. He’s pretty much a recluse. I think he’s enthralled with what he’s doing; he’s intimately involved with his art. There’s a mystique about him. From the start, I have always admired [his] thinking.”
And while it may have been considered a shock to have the same person who threw out homophobic slurs in every other bar on his earlier songs to appear with Elton John at the Grammys, it was all about seeing the talent behind everything. We’ll never know what’s truly in Eminem’s heart, but it’s hard to think that the same man who developed this healthy friendship with John would genuinely believe all of the heinous stuff that he talks about in his music.
Then again, that’s because both of them know that there needs to be a bit of spectacle in how they present their music. It can be intense and over-the-top when it wants to be, but whether you’re listening to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or The Eminem Show, you’re getting the most authentic version of both artists every time the record starts.
