Elton John To Release 'Lockdown Sessions' Album Featuring Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj

Elton John is releasing a new album next month. It will feature collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus and other notable artists who have gamely worked with the legendary musician since March 2020.

"The Lockdown Sessions," which will drop on Oct. 22, includes an impressive list of artists whom John met on his Apple Music show "Rocket Hour." Besides Minaj and Cyrus, its lineup also includes Lil Nas X, Dua Lipa, Eddie Vedder, Charlie Puth, Gorillaz, Stevie Nicks, Young Thug, WATT, Stevie Wonder and Yo-Yo Ma, according to Rolling Stone.

The lead single of the 16-track album is "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)" -- John's duet with Lipa.

The music video for the said track premiered on YouTube on Aug. 13 and has so far garnered more than 8 million views on the platform. The song is a blend of elements taken from John's hits, such as "Sacrifice," "Rocket Man," "Where's the Shoorah" and "Kiss the Bride," Rolling Stone noted.

"The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was to make an album," John said in a statement, Entertainment Tonight reported.

"But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I'd obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens."

"But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I'm known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory," he continued. "And I realized there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I'd come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast."

When the pandemic struck last year, John was halfway through his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour. Unfortunately, he had to postpone his remaining shows. He is set to resume his tour on Sept. 28 at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. Meanwhile, his North American concerts are set to start on Jan. 19, 2022, at New Orleans' Smoothie King Center.

During the quarantine, he was presented with opportunities to work with various artists he had met through "Rocket Hour." This paved the way for "The Lockdown Sessions."

Apart from "Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)," the album also includes "Always Love You" with Young Thug and Minaj, "After All" with Puth and "Nothing Else Matters" with Cyrus, Trujillo, Smith, Ma and WATT.