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Britney Spears and Elton John’s ‘Hold Me Closer’ Video Is a Letdown

Michael Kovac/Getty for EJAF
Michael Kovac/Getty for EJAF

This ordinary, ho-hum Tuesday was almost transformed into a magical one when I received a certain press release in my inbox this morning. The subject line: “Elton John And Britney Spears Release Video For Chart-Topping Smash ‘Hold Me Closer.’”

Heart rate quickening and mouth ajar, I smashed the YouTube link and settled into my couch cushions, ready for whatever visual feast awaited me. This is Britney Spears, after all: the star of so many iconic music videos, now accompanied by living legend Elton John. Surely they dreamt up something spectacular befitting their recent chart-topping duet.

The video, I regret to inform you, is a letdown. It’s very pretty and colorful, and features a diverse cast of performers dancing around various scenic spots in Mexico City while dressed in flowy, monochromatic threads. The choreography is nice. The scenery is nice. The dancers are clearly very talented.

But you know who else is talented? Britney Jean Spears and Sir Elton Hercules John, neither of whom show up for even the tiniest cameo.

On the one hand, did we really expect Spears to film a music video for this song? Not really, considering her recent Instagram screed denouncing the entire entertainment business. The woman would much rather frolic topless on a beach in Hawaii than commit herself to a two-day music video shoot on a studio lot somewhere in Burbank, and damn it, she’s earned that.

And yet, you can’t blame a Spears fan for clutching onto the tiniest shred of hope that for “Hold Me Closer,” her first new music release since her nightmarish conservatorship was terminated in November 2021, she would put that VMA Video Vanguard title to good use. After all, as previously stated, she’s responsible for some of the most enduring music videos of the past couple decades, from “...Baby One More Time” to “Work Bitch.” Surely she can’t be finished, right? Or must we accept that “Slumber Party,” from six whole years ago, was her final video ever? Sad if true!

Is Britney Spears and Elton John’s Fun Single ‘Hold Me Closer’ the Beginning of Her Comeback?

This is certainly not to discredit “Hold Me Closer” director Tanu Muino, who did the best she could with a most unenviable task: making a music video for a hit duet that neither of the two artists actually appear in. In the press release, Muino basically acknowledged as much, saying, “Going into this video, I knew there would be a lot of emotional expectations the audience and fans would have. With this responsibility, I had to do something different and unexpected. The visuals had to be different. The dance had to be forward-thinking to raise eyebrows and make Elton and Britney proud.”

So does the video succeed in making Britney and Elton proud? It’s unclear; Britney hasn’t posted anything about it, while Elton shared a clip on his social channels along with a caption commending it for “beautifully capturing an immeasurable feeling of intimacy so missing from the world through the turmoil and chaos of recent times.” But this is the exact wording used in the press release, so we don’t really know his actual thoughts or opinions about it.

Meanwhile, I personally think that if the official video had just been Britney dancing to this song in her living room while whipping her hair around in a crop top and booty shorts—you know, the thing she loves doing these days, and which we love seeing from her—it would have sufficed. And apparently I’m not the only one who wanted more; the fans have spoken, too:

Let’s all pour one out for the “Hold Me Closer” video that could have been.

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