Who Believes in Angels?
2025 studio album by Elton John and Brandi Carlile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Believes in Angels? is a collaborative studio album by British 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.
| Who Believes in Angels? | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 4 April 2025 | |||
| Recorded | October 2023[1] | |||
| Studio | Sunset Sound (Los Angeles) | |||
| Length | 44:08 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Producer | Andrew Watt | |||
| Elton John chronology | ||||
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| Brandi Carlile chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Who Believes in Angels? | ||||
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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. It was nominated at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. 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" and "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]
John and Carlile performed a concert at the London Palladium for the CBS special An Evening with Elton & Brandi. Its soundtrack was released on vinyl as part of Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 in November.[9]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 79/100[10] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [11] |
| Clash | 8/10[12] |
| Dork | 4/5[13] |
| The Independent | [14] |
| Mojo | [15] |
| MusicOMH | [16] |
| The Observer | [17] |
| Rolling Stone | [18] |
| Rolling Stone UK | [19] |
| The Telegraph | [20] |
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.[10]
Commercial performance
Who Believes in Angels? debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 with 40,000 album-equivalent units, becoming John's twenty-second top-ten album and a fourth for Carlile. The album also debuted at number one on both the Top Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums' charts.[21]
The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 22,843 album-equivalent units,[22] becoming John's tenth album to achieve it and Carlile's first.[23] John also joined Kylie Minogue and Michael Jackson as the fifth artist with the most topper albums on the chart.[24]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brandi Carlile, and Andrew Watt; "The Rose of Laura Nyro" was written with Laura Nyro.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | |
Note
- "The Rose of Laura Nyro" contains elements of "Eli's Comin'" by Laura Nyro.[25]
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[25]
Musicians
- Elton John – vocals, piano (tracks 1–4, 6–10); Rhodes piano (5)
- Brandi Carlile – vocals (1–9), acoustic guitar (3, 8, 9), guitar (5)
- Andrew Watt – electric guitar (1–4, 6–9), acoustic guitar (1, 4, 6, 7), background vocals (3, 6–9), bass (5, 9), drums (8), pump organ (9)
- Chad Smith – drums (1–4, 6, 7, 9), percussion (2–4, 6–9)
- Pino Palladino – bass (1–4, 6–8)
- Josh Klinghoffer – synthesizers (all tracks), keyboards (1–9), organ (1, 4–9), electric guitar (1)
- James King – saxophone (1, 2, 10), flute (10)
- Ron Blake – trumpet (1, 2, 10), flugelhorn (10)
Technical and visuals
- Andrew Watt – production, Polaroids
- Paul Lamalfa – engineering
- Serban Ghenea – mixing
- Matt Colton – mastering
- Marco Sonzini – additional engineering, keyboard engineering
- Nate Haessly – engineering assistance
- Zack Zajdel – engineering assistance
- Bryce Bordone – mix engineering assistance
- Marc VanGool – studio technician
- Chris Warren – studio technician
- Chelsea Fodero – production coordination
- Andrew Koenig – production coordination
- Laura Ramsay – production coordination
- David LaChapelle – photography
- Peggy Sirota – Bernie Taupin photograph
- Mat Maitland – design
- Markus Bagå – design
Charts
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[26] | 26 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[27] | 2 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[28] | 14 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[29] | 26 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[30] | 52 |
| Croatian International Albums (HDU)[31] | 11 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[32] | 21 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[33] | 42 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[34] | 2 |
| Greek Albums (IFPI)[35] | 64 |
| Irish Albums (OCC)[36] | 33 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[37] | 46 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[38] | 6 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[39] | 75 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[40] | 1 |
| Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[41] | 5 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[42] | 1 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[43] | 1 |
| US Billboard 200[44] | 9 |
| US Top Rock & Alternative Albums (Billboard)[45] | 1 |