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    Tobias Barreto

    Who Believes in Angels?
    Studio album by
    Elton John and Brandi Carlile
    Released4 April 2025
    RecordedOctober 2023[1]
    StudioSunset Sound (Los Angeles)
    Length44:08
    LabelInterscope
    ProducerAndrew Watt
    Elton John chronology
    The Lockdown Sessions
    (2021)     		Who Believes in Angels?
    (2025)
    Brandi Carlile chronology
    In These Silent Days
    (2021)     		Who Believes in Angels?
    (2025)
    Singles from Who Believes in Angels?
    1. "Who Believes in Angels?"
      Released: 5 February 2025
    2. "Swing for the Fences"
      Released: 5 March 2025[2]

    Who Believes in Angels? is a collaborative studio album by English musician Elton John and American musician Brandi Carlile. It was released on 4 April 2025, through Interscope Records.[3][4] The album is produced by Andrew Watt, and was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles.[4] The record was announced on 5 February 2025, alongside the release of its title track.[4] It is John's thirty-third studio album and Carlile's eighth.

    John and Carlile have previously collaborated on the song "Simple Things", which appears on John's collaborative album The Lockdown Sessions (2021), as well as "Never Too Late", the theme to John's 2024 documentary of the same name; the latter appears on Who Believes in Angels?[1] In addition to Carlile, lyrics were also contributed by John's longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin; Watt also shares songwriting credits on the album.[3]

    The album received positive reviews by music critics, being praised both for writing and production of the songs. Commercially it debuted at number one on the United Kingdom and Switzerland's charts, and reached the top-ten in Germany, Austria and New Zealand. In the United States, the album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200.

    Background

    Recording for the album began in October 2023, a process in which John, Carlile and Watt "pushed each other out of their comfort zones to write and record an album completely from scratch in just 20 days", according to a press release.[1][5] Musicians contributing to the album include Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer, and session bass guitarist Pino Palladino.[3][6]

    John described the album as "one of the toughest I've made", while also being "one of the greatest musical experiences of my life."[4] Among the struggles relating to the album is John's vision loss in relation to an eye infection.[4][7] Carlile described the recording process as being in "an incredibly challenging and inspiring environment to work in, everybody throwing in ideas, everybody listening to everybody else's ideas."[1]

    Promotion

    The album's title track was released as the first single on 5 February 2025 alongside the announcement of the album. In addition to the single, a short film documenting the making of the song was released to YouTube on the same day.[8] On 7 February, a music video for the single was released. Directed by David LaChapelle, the video depicts John and Carlile performing the song in a Captain Fantastic pinball machine (the design of which references John's 1975 album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy), supported by backup dancers impersonating Tina Turner and Little Richard.[8]

    Critical reception

    Professional ratings
    Aggregate scores
    SourceRating
    Metacritic79/100[9]
    Review scores
    SourceRating
    AllMusic[10]
    Clash8/10[11]
    Dork4/5[12]
    The Independent[13]
    Mojo[14]
    MusicOMH[15]
    The Observer[16]
    Rolling Stone[17]
    Rolling Stone UK[18]
    The Telegraph[19]

    According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Who Believes in Angels? received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 from ten critic scores.[9]

    Track listing

    All tracks are written by Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Andrew Watt; "The Rose of Laura Nyro" written with Laura Nyro. All tracks produced by Andrew Watt.

    Who Believes in Angels? track listing
    No.TitleLength
    1."The Rose of Laura Nyro"6:39
    2."Little Richard's Bible"2:59
    3."Swing for the Fences"3:22
    4."Never Too Late"3:36
    5."You Without Me"4:35
    6."Who Believes in Angels?"5:13
    7."The River Man"4:41
    8."A Little Light"4:22
    9."Someone to Belong To"4:20
    10."When This Old World Is Done with Me"4:16
    Total length:44:08

    Personnel

    Musicians

    • Elton John – vocals, piano (tracks 1–4, 6–10); Rhodes (5)
    • Brandi Carlile – vocals (tracks 1–9), acoustic guitar (3, 8, 9), guitar (5), background vocals (7)
    • Josh Klinghoffer – synthesizer (all tracks), keyboards (tracks 1–9), organ (1, 4–9), electric guitar (1)
    • Andrew Watt – electric guitar (tracks 1–4, 6–9), acoustic guitar (1, 4, 6, 7), background vocals (3, 6–9), bass guitar (5, 9), drums (8), organ (9)
    • Chad Smith – drums (tracks 1–7, 9), percussion (2–9)
    • Pino Palladino – bass guitar (tracks 1–4, 6–8)
    • James King – saxophone (tracks 1, 2, 10), flute (10)
    • Ron Blake – trumpet (tracks 1, 2, 10), flugelhorn (10)

    Technical

    • Andrew Watt – production
    • Matt Colton – mastering
    • Serban Ghenea – mixing
    • Paul Lamalfa – engineering
    • Nate Haessly – recording, engineering assistance
    • Zack Zajdel – recording, engineering assistance
    • Marco Sonzini – additional engineering
    • Bryce Bordone – mixing assistance
    • Andrew Koenig – production coordination
    • Chelsea Fodero – production coordination
    • Laura Ramsay – production coordination

    Commercial performance

    Who Believes in Angels? debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200, becoming John's twenty-second top-ten album and fourth for Carlile. The album also debuted at number one on both the Top Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums' charts.[20]

    The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming John tenth album to achieve it and Carlile first one.[21] John also joined Kylie Minogue and Michael Jackson as the fifth artist with the most topper albums on the chart.[22]

    Charts

    Chart performance for Who Believes in Angels?
    Chart (2025) Peak
    position
    Australian Albums (ARIA)[23] 26
    Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 2
    Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[25] 14
    Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[26] 26
    Canadian Albums (Billboard)[27] 52
    Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[28] 21
    French Albums (SNEP)[29] 42
    German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[30] 2
    Greek Albums (IFPI)[31] 64
    Irish Albums (OCC)[32] 33
    Italian Albums (FIMI)[33] 46
    New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34] 6
    Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[35] 75
    Scottish Albums (OCC)[36] 1
    Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 5
    Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[38] 1
    UK Albums (OCC)[39] 1
    US Billboard 200[40] 9
    US Top Rock & Alternative Albums (Billboard)[41] 1

    References

    1. ^ a b c d Mier, Tomás (5 February 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile Preview Album 'Who Believes in Angels?' with Title Track". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 6 February 2025. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
    2. ^ "Elton John And Brandi Carlile 'Swing For The Fences' On New Single". Forbes. 7 March 2025. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
    3. ^ a b c Strauss, Matthew (5 February 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile Announce Album, Shares New Song "Who Believes in Angels?": Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
    4. ^ a b c d e Breihan, Tom (5 February 2025). "Elton John & Brandi Carlile Announce Collab Album Who Believes In Angels?". Stereogum. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
    5. ^ Snapes, Laura (7 February 2025). "'He smashed his iPad and headphones. My lyrics got torn up': inside Elton John and Brandi Carlile's explosive duets album". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
    6. ^ Newman, Melinda (1 April 2025). "Elton John on Working With Brandi Carlile on New Album: 'She Was Capable of Pushing Me, I'm Capable of Pushing Her'". Billboard. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
    7. ^ Youngs, Ian (25 November 2024). "Elton John album on hold because he 'can't see' after eye infection". BBC News. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
    8. ^ a b Ragusa, Pablo (7 February 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile Reveal Pinball-Themed Video for "Who Believes in Angels?"". Consequence. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
    9. ^ a b "Who Believes in Angels?". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    10. ^ Sendra, Tim. "Who Believes in Angels? Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    11. ^ Connor, Christopher (3 April 2025). "Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes In Angels?". Clash. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    12. ^ Newton, Felicity (3 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile – Who Believes In Angels?". Dork. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    13. ^ Brown, Helen (4 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile deliver outsized, old-school fun on Who Believes in Angels?". The Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    14. ^ Aizlewood, John (1 April 2025). "Elton John & Brandi Carlile Who Believes In Angels? Reviewed: Stars align on life-affirming collaboration". Mojo. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    15. ^ Murphy, John (8 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile – Who Believes In Angels?". MusicOMH. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    16. ^ Wright, Lisa (4 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile: Who Believes in Angels? review – a true meeting of minds". The Observer. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    17. ^ Dolan, Jon (2 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile's Heartwarming Collaboration". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    18. ^ Reilly, Nick (1 April 2025). "Elton John & Brandi Carlile 'Who Believes In Angels?' review: Super-duo deliver pop greatness". Rolling Stone UK. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    19. ^ McCormick, Neil (3 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile's new album is a glorious return to his bombastic, melodious 1970s pomp". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
    20. ^ Caulfield, Keith (14 April 2025). "Elton John & Brandi Carlile's 'Who Believes in Angels?' Makes Top 10 Debut on the Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    21. ^ Savage, Mark (11 April 2025). "Sir Elton John celebrates 'extraordinary' 10th UK number one album". BBC News. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    22. ^ Smith, Carl (11 April 2025). "Elton John and Brandi Carlile land first collaborative Number 1 album with Who Believes In Angels?". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    23. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 14 April 2025. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    24. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Brandi / Elton – Who Believes in Angels?" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
    25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Brandi / Elton – Who Believes in Angels?" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
    26. ^ "Ultratop.be – Brandi / Elton – Who Believes in Angels?" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
    27. ^ "Brandi Carlile Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    28. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Brandi / Elton – Who Believes in Angels?" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
    29. ^ "Top Albums (Week 15, 2025)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    30. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Elton John & Brandi Carlile – Who Believes in Angels?" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    31. ^ "Official IFPI Charts Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Combined) – Εβδομάδα: 17/2025" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
    32. ^ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    33. ^ "Top Album – Classifica settimanale WK 15 (dal 04.04.2025 al 10.04.2025)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
    34. ^ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 11 April 2025. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    35. ^ "Album 2025 uke 15". VG-lista. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    36. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
    37. ^ "Veckolista Album Fysiskt, vecka 15" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    38. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Brandi / Elton – Who Believes in Angels?". Hung Medien. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
    39. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
    40. ^ "Brandi Carlile Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    41. ^ "Brandi Carlile Chart History: Top Rock & Alternative Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
    Credit: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Believes_in_Angels%3F

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