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Image via Elton John on Facebook
The indomitable, timeless legend Sir Elton John is still working hard and keeping current—he’s in the middle of another long Las Vegas run and his Beats 1 radio show, the “Rocket Hour,” sees him playing songs by artists like Fetty Wap and Tiggs Da Author alongside classics from years past.
The interview is long and well worth reading in full, with highlights including his love of Young Thug and Miley Cyrus, and his thoughts on sad songs.
On Young Thug’s music:
I love that record! I actually asked [Universal Music CEO] David Joseph about it. I heard a track on Beats 1 and I loved it so much. But he’s got himself into trouble, hasn’t he?
On Thug’s outlandish style:
I love all of that, it’s unexpected. I remember when Blind Faith came out, with a nude girl and John & Yoko, you had to buy it in a black plastic bag. And you should be able to do things like that but we don’t live in that kind of world anymore.
On sad songs:
I love misery. Miserable songs are so great to write, I love writing them. It’s much harder for me to write an uptempo song than a misery song. We’re all afraid to admit that part of our soul: that we want to fall in love with someone and we hate having our heart broken. It’s a very masculine thing to soldier on in the face of adversity. But at the end of the day it’s like ‘Oh, I’m human, I do want to be loved, I do want to get well, I do want a happy life.’ And music has carried that through.
On Miley Cyrus:
I mean who would have thought that she’d do a record with The Flaming Lips? I love that kind of thing. That on the spur of the moment, out of leftfield stuff like that. And they’re gonna perform the whole album nude. I’m booking my ticket now. It’s like ‘I wanna see this, this is interesting’.
Read the full interview on Noisey here.
