Elton John on pop music: "there's four or five writers... they're not real songs"
Elton John seems like the kind of forever-relevant rock lifer who would be down with current trends in pop music, especially given his appearance on Lady Gaga‘s new album, but it looks like even he has some trash to talk when it comes to the music on the charts.
NME reports that Elton said to BBC Radio 6 Music, “…there’s four or five writers on (a track). You look at most of the records in the charts – they’re not real songs. They’re bits and pieces and it’s nice to hear someone write a proper song.”
“I like people who write songs,” he continued. “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.”
As far as people Elton does think write “proper songs,” he praised Father John Misty and childhood YouTube star turned singer/songwriter Conan Gray. “[Father John Misty] reminds me a little bit of me the way he writes songs,” Elton said. “Conan’s from America and he’s the only person in the American Spotify Top 50 to actually write the song without anybody else.”
Elton also addressed his tour dates, which — like everyone else’s — are up in the air. “Oh of course I’m going straight out there again,” he said. “When and where, I don’t know. I mean know where – but I don’t know when. I’ll definitely be out there yes.” We look forward to it — so far, his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour’ has been genuinely spectacular.
