Elton John guests on a new single by London-based artist Rina Sawayama. The video for “Chosen Family” features Sawayama and John alternating vocals, while John plays piano.
The song highlights an emotional message and explores the idea of having a chosen family through the lens of the LGBTQ+ community. You can watch the video below.
The collaboration came about when John first heard another of Sawayama’s songs, “Comme Des Garcons (Like the Boys).”
“I stopped in my tracks and thought, ‘Who is this?'” he said in a statement. “It just blew me away from the first listen. We’ve since become friends, and it’s such a huge honor and a genuine thrill to be asked to duet with Rina. She is just an extraordinary talent.”
“The song means so much to both of us, and recording it together was such a special experience I will never forget,” said Sawayama, whose debut album, Sawayama, was one of last year’s most acclaimed releases. “I got shivers when I heard his voice through the monitor and became emotional when he added the piano parts. Elton has been such a huge supporter from before the album, and when we finally met to record this song, we clicked from the get-go. I hope people can hear the magic!”
“Rina doesn’t just represent the cross-cultural mix of inspiration from which the best music always thrives, but a generation who have grown up with the internet and the entire history of music at their fingertips, and mix together whatever they please with real love and understanding, unconstrained by old ideas of genre or boundary,” John added. “To my mind, she’s the brightest embodiment of this: a brilliant, confidence-oozing, endlessly fascinating songwriter and performer.”