Elton John, who has released over 30 studio albums, said his next one was written unlike any other he’s created before. He described the new LP as being “so happy” at a gala event over the weekend, where he was honored with the Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto.
John said the vision loss he suffered from an eye infection in 2024 made it necessary that he approach songwriting differently after all these decades.
“I’ve had eye trouble recently and I always make records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics, and so I’m kind of fucked at the moment,” the 79-year-old singer-pianist said on Saturday at the Theatre at Great Canadian Casino Resort in Toronto, where he accepted the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize. The international award honors a person who has made “a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts.”
John — who retired from touring in 2023 after playing over 330 shows all over the world on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour, and released the collaborative album Who Believes in Angels? with Belinda Carlile last year — added, “What my eye has given me is a chance of, at 80 years of age, completely reversing how I write. I’m writing melodies first, and lyrics coming second. I’ve never done that. And I’ve just done it.”
“And I’ve just done an album, which is so different to anything I’ve ever done before, but it’s so happy,” he continued. “I’m so thrilled with it because it’s given me another chance to make music.”
John contracted a severe eye infection in the summer of 2024. That September, he posted publicly about it for the first time, revealing he has “only limited vision in one eye” and “it will take some time before sight returns to the impacted eye.”
A little over a year later, in an interview with Variety, he said, “It’s been devastating. Because I lost my right eye and my left eye’s not so good, the last 15 months have been challenging for me because I haven’t been able to see anything, watch anything, read anything.”
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So, news that he has found a way to adapt creatively and that a new solo album is in the can was music to fans’ ears at the gala. “If I don’t make music, I’m dead,” he told the audience. “If don’t listen to music, I’m dead. Music is my soul, my driving force. It is everything and has been everything to me all my life.”
Glenn Gould Prize recipients receive $100,000, which John donated back to the Glenn Gould Foundation. The honor also comes with the opportunity to choose the winner of the Glenn Gould Protégé Prize of $25,000. He picked mezzo soprano Emily D’Angelo. “I know a star when I see one,” he said. You’re an immaculate performer, an immaculate singer and I’m so proud to be giving you this award.”
John also seized the moment in his six-minute speech to praise Canada and take a dig at Trump. “It’s so nice to be in Canada and have a concert for Canadian artists, who all I know. It’s also nice to be in a country that has common sense,” he said to hoots and claps.
“I have a family, here. David [Furnish], my husband, his family are my family. They live in Toronto. They’re part of my life. They’re part of my soul. My children, they love it here so much. They love their cousins and their family here. It is part of my life. I am a Canadian,” he added, to even more applause.
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He continued: “And I can tell you, it’s not the fucking 51st state, either.” That was met with an even louder and longer cheers. “It’s a country that has accepted immigrants and does not throw them out. It’s a country that embraces all sorts of people, all races, and I love it, and I can’t thank you Canada enough for everything they’ve ever done for me.”
John then surprised everyone by getting up from his chair on the stage to join all the Canadian performers he handpicked for the night for the grand finale of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”