Sir Elton John has teased his upcoming collaboration with Britney Spears with a “sneak peek” video clip of a DJ playing the track.

The stars’ new song Hold Me Closer is due to be released later this week and marks Spears‘ much-anticipated return to making music.

In footage shared on social media, Sir Elton, 75, can be seen introducing and singing along to part of the song in the DJ booth live at La Guerite beach restaurant, in Cannes, France.

Wearing a colourful patterned matching shirt and shorts outfit, the star is shown standing in front of a crowd – who are later shown cheering and filming the performance on their mobile phones – and shouts out Spears’ name.

Hold Me Closer features lines from Sir Elton’s 1972 single Tiny Dancer. Thanking the audience at the end, he told them it would be out on Friday.

In a short follow-up clip posted on Wednesday, the singer shared an official snippet of the track.

This is the second time in a year he has surprised fans at the Cannes restaurant, after performing his collaborative song Cold Heart, featuring British star Dua Lipa, there in August 2021.

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Spears, 40, was famously released from her conservatorship of more than 13 years, which saw her father Jamie Spears and others largely control her life and finances, in November 2021.

As she was fighting the controversial legal arrangement towards the end, she said she would not return to making music while her father was in charge.

Despite a judge ending the guardianship, the legal battle over her father’s alleged misconduct while the order was in place continues.

In July, the judge who has presided over the case, Brenda Penny, ordered that Jamie Spears be deposed and face questions over alleged surveillance of the singer at her home.

The judge denied his motion requesting that the pop star also return to court to face further questioning, in order to protect her from “unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment or oppression”.

Jamie Spears’ lawyer told the court at a hearing that his client would ultimately be “vindicated” and that he had “done nothing wrong”.

Spears married partner Sam Asghari, 28, at their home in Los Angeles in June, in a small ceremony attended by celebrity guests including Madonna and Selena Gomez.

Earlier in August, her first husband Jason Alexander – whom she wed in Las Vegas in 2004 before the marriage was annulled just 55 hours later – was convicted of trespassing after appearing uninvited at her home on the day of her wedding.

The singer has two children, Sean and Jayden, with her second husband Kevin Federline.

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