While his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour" remains on hold, Elton John has emerged from his pandemic-induced holiday to criticize the integrity of modern music.
In conversation with BBC Radio 6 Music [via NME], the singer spoke at length about the merits of artists who write their own songs, praising the works of Father John Misty and pop artist Conan Gray (who he claims is the only artist on American Spotify's Top 50 to write his own tunes) while bashing a large, unnamed group of other charting musicians.
"Everybody else there's four or five writers on [a track]. You look at most of the records in the charts — they're not real songs," John said.
"They're bits and pieces and it's nice to hear someone write a proper song. I like people who write songs. And there's plenty of people that do but a lot of them don't get played on the radio because they're too sophisticated and we get songs made by a computer all the time and I'm not interested in that."
John also confirmed his plans to return to touring as soon as it is safe to do so.
"When and where, I don't know. I mean, I know where — but I don't know when," he said.
Earlier in the summer, John kept folks entertained in lieu of live performances with his "Classic Concerts Series" project on YouTube, the proceeds of which went towards the Elton John AIDS Foundation in support of COVID relief efforts.
In conversation with BBC Radio 6 Music [via NME], the singer spoke at length about the merits of artists who write their own songs, praising the works of Father John Misty and pop artist Conan Gray (who he claims is the only artist on American Spotify's Top 50 to write his own tunes) while bashing a large, unnamed group of other charting musicians.
"Everybody else there's four or five writers on [a track]. You look at most of the records in the charts — they're not real songs," John said.
"They're bits and pieces and it's nice to hear someone write a proper song. I like people who write songs. And there's plenty of people that do but a lot of them don't get played on the radio because they're too sophisticated and we get songs made by a computer all the time and I'm not interested in that."
John also confirmed his plans to return to touring as soon as it is safe to do so.
"When and where, I don't know. I mean, I know where — but I don't know when," he said.
Earlier in the summer, John kept folks entertained in lieu of live performances with his "Classic Concerts Series" project on YouTube, the proceeds of which went towards the Elton John AIDS Foundation in support of COVID relief efforts.
