Elton John & Brandi Carlile Drop Raw, Emotional Making-Of Short ‘Who Believes in Angels?: Stories From the Edge of Creation’

As part of the multi-media blitz to promote their first joint album together, Who Believes in Angels?,” Elton John and Brandi Carlile are inviting fans to watch the raw studio footage of the sessions. In a first for John, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer allowed cameras to film the entire process, resulting in the 32-minute YouTube short Who Believes in Angels?: Stories From the Edge of Creation, which dropped over the weekend.

As John has hinted in interviews, the decision to enter the studio with no song ideas or sketches was a challenge that initially made him very nervous. The film opens with producer Andrew Watt trying to flint a creative spark from the pop icon by bringing up late 1960s confessional singer Laura Nyro, who John has long said was one of his biggest inspirations.

That, of course, led to the recording of the album’s nearly seven-minute opening track, “The Rose of Laura Nyro,” which viewers can see come to life as John picks out the song’s refrain in real time as his career-long lyricist, Bernie Taupin, stands by his side to help punch things up.

At another point, an excited Watt enthusiastically strums an acoustic guitar while he explains John’s process in voiceover. “I asked Elton how does he write songs,” Watt says. “He sits and read a lyric, he sees a movie scene in his head and then he scores the movie.” Knowing that John also reveres rock originator Little Richard, Watt says he surmised that if the piano man saw a lyric about the “Tutti Frutti” star he was going to “feel rock n’ roll,” which resulted in the appropriately flamboyant “Little Richard’s Bible.”

One of the revelations is hearing Taupin say that he was more than open to allowing Carlile to participate in tweaking lyrics in a new spin on the two mens’ decades-long creative partnership. The film also features footage of Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith rocking out in the studio during the 20-day blitz of writing and recording. According to a release, the half hour’s worth of footage was culled from thousands of hours of raw tape.

In a testament to the pleasure and pain of the sessions, we see Carlile and John repeatedly praise each other’s talents, as well as the 78-year-old singer tear up and toss lyric sheets after losing his cool while trying to figure out how to harmonized with Carlile on her song “Swing For the Fences.”

At another point, John gets emotional after laying down his parts on the Carlile-penned ballad “Someone to Belong To,” a track she wrote to honor John’s 30-year relationship with husband/ manager David Furnish. He also flat-out breaks down in tears while recording the emotional “When This Old World Is Done With Me,” a Taupin-written weeper about the passage of time that that gets him when he hits the line, “When this old world is done with me/ When I close my eyes/ Release me like an ocean wave.”

“Pretty f–king great album, huh?” Watt tells John near the end of the doc as Elton recalls how depressed and despondent he was when the project began. “I feel like my heart’s attached to your heart,” Watt says, patting John on the shoulder and then hopping up to dance along to a mix of one of the songs.

Who Believes in Angels?: Stories From the Edge of Creation is available to stream for free on YouTube now. In addition to the short, fans can also read a song-by-song breakdown of the new album by the two singers, watch their recent performance on SNL, check out the one-hour concert An Evening With Elton John and Brandi Carlile on Paramount+ and hear the duo’s song “Never Too Late” from the Disney+ doc Elton John: Never Too Late.

Check out the YouTube short below.