A classic partnership, suddenly writing in reverse
Elton John’s new album is being created through a reversed songwriting process in which he now writes melodies and instrumental tracks first, then adds lyrics afterward, overturning the long-standing method he used with Bernie Taupin for decades because of recent eyesight problems that stop him reading words from the piano. This reversal is not a trivial tweak; it is the headline. Elton John is working on a new album expected to be released at the beginning of next year, with Bernie Taupin saying he has a “rough idea” of the schedule but nothing fixed yet. The striking part is not the timing but the method: the legendary lyric-first workflow has been rebuilt after more than half a century together. In classic rock songwriting process lore, this duo were the template; now they are tearing up their own rulebook.
Eyesight problems that broke the old formula
The trigger for this creative upheaval is brutally practical: Elton John cannot read lyrics placed on the piano anymore. That single limitation wrecks the classic rock songwriting process that defined his catalog, in which he “always make[s] records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics”. At a recent event, he admitted that this made his usual approach “impossible” and left him feeling “kind of f***** at the moment” when it came to composing in the old way. Instead of retreating, he chose to “completely revers[e] how I write,” as he put it, moving to melodies first and lyrics second for the first time in his career. The most telling detail is how matter-of-fact this sounds: necessity, not nostalgia, is steering the Elton John new album.
From lyric sheets to instrumental sketches
Bernie Taupin’s account makes the shift sound almost un-Elton-like in its mechanics. Instead of setting his partner’s words to music, Elton John built instrumental tracks and “threw basically three or four of them” at Taupin with the challenge, “Can you do something with these?”. That flips the emotional hierarchy of their work. For decades, Bernie Taupin songwriting began with a self-contained lyric, which Elton then exploded into melody. Now Taupin is responding to pre-existing musical mood, forced to inhabit harmonies and grooves that arrived before a single line of text. Adding producer Andrew Watt into that environment, and even “a couple of other people” contributing, turns this Elton John new album into a collaborative laboratory rather than a closed two-man system. As Taupin puts it, “it’s a whole different ballgame for him”—and, by extension, for fans who think they know what an Elton record sounds like.
Reinventing at 80: risk or renewal?
This late-career reset matters because it challenges the idea that classic rock songwriting process must be preserved like a museum exhibit. Elton John himself frames his eyesight issue as a backhanded gift: “What my eye has given me is a chance of, at 80 years of age, completely reversing how I write”. That is not the language of a man protecting a legacy at all costs; it is the language of someone still chasing surprise. He describes the finished work-in-progress as “so different to anything I’ve ever done before” yet “so happy,” and says it has “given me another chance to make music”. That optimism matters more than any nostalgic expectation of another Greatest Hits retread. If this experiment lands, it could prove that the Elton John album release next year is not an epilogue but a new chapter written under pressure—and that long partnerships can evolve without losing their core.
