single Elton John & Britney Spears - "Hold Me Closer"

[God_Donna]

I just wanna say my fav Britney Spears song is still and then we kiss. B in the mix is still so good and ahead of it’s time. 

[Alfred]

The difference between 2011/FF Britney and 2022 is her voice was a lot “clearer” back then. Even if it was melodyned to hell and back, she could deliver a solid vocal take and hit all the licks, melismas, adlibs, etc. 
 

I fear she may be going down the Madonna route where no one knows how to vocal produce her the right way. I feel like she needs Max bc he always gets the best vocal out of her and edits her vocals in the most ‘natural’ processed way. 

[Tistotal]

People saying Britney's voice is autotuned. It barely has any effect, it actually sounds so unfinished.

btw, we always say it's a demo for the first version we had and it end up being identical to the studio version lol 

 

I listened to it and it's not something I would listen over and over again. I will wait until the HQ version though

[B94]

Thing is she was doing full chest notes clearly and best at young age. Her past label forced her into that baby voice. So that along with smoking has limited her abilities a bit. She needs a vocal coach to train her chest voice it hasn’t been used in forever, good thing she still sounds great low mid range plus still has beautiful head voice and falsetto. They really shouldn’t have pitch corrected her voice so much on this and the reverb muting it, I find it hard to believe her voice was that pitchy. Considering the raw recordings with Glory and she did pretty well singing BOMT recently. 

[Protocol]

4 minutes ago, Erreur2 La Nature said:

I am genuinely wondering if we have heard the same version cause I cannot put the fingers on the parts you’re referring to.

Her voice is not modified on it (except maybe an effect on the word « closer ») and she is singing in her natural voice. 

The amount of reverb on it... they may as well have recorded in the grand canyon

[Protocol]

4 minutes ago, Alfred said:

The difference between 2011/FF Britney and 2022 is her voice was a lot “clearer” back then. Even if it was melodyned to hell and back, she could deliver a solid vocal take and hit all the licks, melismas, adlibs, etc. 
 

I fear she may be going down the Madonna route where no one knows how to vocal produce her the right way. I feel like she needs Max bc he always gets the best vocal out of her and edits her vocals in the most ‘natural’ processed way. 

Max is the best vocal producer in the world and yes he should be vocally producing her. And Madonna too. Madonna really should swallow her pride and work with him. Max is so good he even made BTS sound listenable on that Coldplay song.

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, Arcadius said:

Agreed, but that's nothing a great vocal coach can't help her with. Hopefully if she ever plans to record a new album she's album to take her time and work with someone who can help her find what works for her. I think you can kinda tell they recorded this song a bit on a whim. 

 

OT: I think this will make a cute little radio bop. 

I agree w you about the vocal coach. I def think this recording is her popping into the studio, laying down the vocal in 2-3 hours, and then hitchin outta there. We all know she’s known for working quickly & efficiently. Maybe to her detriment in this case (slightly)

 

2 minutes ago, God_Donna said:

I just wanna say my fav Britney Spears song is still and then we kiss. B in the mix is still so good and ahead of it’s time. 

TASTE

i still remember listening to the leak in 2005(?) and being blown away. It’s so ethereal and euphoric. I’ve always wanted her to make an album full of ATWKs and Over To You Nows. Like clubby/dance/trance pop

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, Protocol said:

Max is the best vocal producer in the world and yes he should be vocally producing her. And Madonna too. Madonna really should swallow her pride and work with him. Max is so good he even made BTS sound listenable on that Coldplay song.

Dragged! 
 

Imagine a Madonna album fully produced by Max. Whew 

[Protocol]

3 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Dragged! 
 

Imagine a Madonna album fully produced by Max. Whew 

If she had worked with him for MDNA she could've had one last hit album. She probably feels she's above him. After all during the late 90s/00 era when he was all over the charts with the boybands and Britney she was still scoring smashes with her euro alternative house leaning productions with Orbit and Mirwais so she probably has always felt she's too cool for him. She even worked with one of Dr Luke's ex proteges (Dr Luke was in turn a protege of Max initially) for Rebel Heart (Billboard on "Ghost Town"), so she's had a couple degrees of separation from him but never went to him directly. He'd obviously jump at the chance. She needed him for those two albums, badly. A lot of songs were close to sounding like hits but just didn't have the x factor, and her vocals were a disaster. Max could've rearranged "Give Me All Your Luvin'" to be a true hit. Because the pre chorus DOES sound like a hit, but the rest of the song falls flat. And it's a sound in his wheelhouse too. Pride truly comes before the fall...

[God_Donna]

11 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I agree w you about the vocal coach. I def think this recording is her popping into the studio, laying down the vocal in 2-3 hours, and then hitchin outta there. We all know she’s known for working quickly & efficiently. Maybe to her detriment in this case (slightly)

 

TASTE

i still remember listening to the leak in 2005(?) and being blown away. It’s so ethereal and euphoric. I’ve always wanted her to make an album full of ATWKs and Over To You Nows. Like clubby/dance/trance pop

It’s one of my fav albums. Totally euphoric yes. Lemme stream. 

[Erreur2 La Nature]

17 minutes ago, Protocol said:

The amount of reverb on it... they may as well have recorded in the grand canyon

There’s some reverb during the chorus (maybe too much on the leak tbh) but that is in no way similar to sounding like a robot.

That’s what most people on ATRL don’t understand when they talk about autotune too. They have no idea what autotune is and use this term to describe an effect added over a voice. 

[James_Dean]

31 minutes ago, God_Donna said:

Girl your telling me hold it against me wasn’t auto tuned downnnn

 

what about inside out?!?! You are delusional and it’s sad. 
 

the whole album was autoTUNED the house down boots mama. 

That's literally what I said... FF is robotic autotune. This sounds nothing like that  learn to read

[BreakinTheIce]

if you really thought that her voice sounds robotic or auto-tuned on either the original or this polished version then i think you need to get an ear exam. the original leak was basically unfiltered vocals and it's clear this version for final is just mixed and polished.

 

polished/mixed =/= auto-tuned 

[teresaguidice]

i want to like this but britney's current day vocals are just not pleasant on a song like this. i hope the final cleans up the private show'd vocals. 

[God_Donna]

18 minutes ago, James_Dean said:

That's literally what I said... FF is robotic autotune. This sounds nothing like that  learn to read

Shakin 

[God_Donna]

Girl them private show vocals girl. 

[Alfred]

11 minutes ago, Protocol said:

If she had worked with him for MDNA she could've had one last hit album. She probably feels she's above him. After all during the late 90s/00 era when he was all over the charts with the boybands and Britney she was still scoring smashes with her euro alternative house leaning productions with Orbit and Mirwais so she probably has always felt she's too cool for him. She even worked with one of Dr Luke's ex proteges (Dr Luke was in turn a protege of Max initially) for Rebel Heart (Billboard on "Ghost Town"), so she's had a couple degrees of separation from him but never went to him directly. He'd obviously jump at the chance. She needed him for those two albums, badly. A lot of songs were close to sounding like hits but just didn't have the x factor, and her vocals were a disaster. Max could've rearranged "Give Me All Your Luvin'" to be a true hit. Because the pre chorus DOES sound like a hit, but the rest of the song falls flat. And it's a sound in his wheelhouse too. Pride truly comes before the fall...

Great points. The funny / telling part about Ghosttown being produced by Billboard is that it’s the best she sounded on Rebel Heart. The Max-Luke-Billboard adjacent school of production really is top tier in all respects for pop music.
 

And yeah Give Me All Your Love totally had hit potential but was missing that fine tuning. Most of those MDNA songs fell flat for that reason. Rebel Heart was even worse imo

[TouchinFree]

5 hours ago, stephen1108 said:

The leak is not that LQ, it’s a 160 kbps + file which is decent enough imo. 
 

I do think this might not be the final mix tho, some of the mixing on the vocals between the two of them could be cleaned up some more. 

 

EDIT: I just checked the spectrum again, I wouldn't consider this leak LQ

Not true. I've heard it in my car on meduim volume. Right from the start there's statics and actual noise. I've noticed that when i heard it on my phone even. 

 

Gurl some of you need your ears seriously checked. We're at lossless and premium quality music right now. You should all know this by now. This IS the final version. But terrible quality. End of story. It is a LEAK. So someone RIPPED it from original quality to put it on the internet. That alone takes away quality. 

[TouchinFree]

So many experienced producers and mixers in here it seems 

 

Acting like their faves sing in a mic in one take and then it's released the next day 

 

Lots of misinformed opinions about Autotune, it's abit painful to read. Autotune is "Believe" by Cher. Autotune is "Die another day" By Madonna. And T-pain's discography 

 

Just wait for the final thing and then give us your valued opinion. The quality is bad. 

[Blue Rose]

Can someone please fill me in? Does Britney approves of this song? Has she said anything about it? Is it ok to support it? I don’t trust Elton 

[The Slayer]

52 minutes ago, BreakinTheIce said:

if you really thought that her voice sounds robotic or auto-tuned on either the original or this polished version then i think you need to get an ear exam. the original leak was basically unfiltered vocals and it's clear this version for final is just mixed and polished.

 

polished/mixed =/= auto-tuned 

This.

 

Anyway the song sounds AMAZING and haters can continue seething over the legendary Britney Spears.

[crf13]

4 minutes ago, TouchinFree said:

So many experienced producers and mixers in here it seems 

 

Acting like their faves sing in a mic in one take and then it's released the next day 

 

Lots of misinformed opinions about Autotune, it's abit painful to read. Autotune is "Believe" by Cher. Autotune is "Die another day" By Madonna. And T-pain's discography 

 

Just wait for the final thing and then give us your valued opinion. The quality is bad. 

You’re 100% correct, but this is atrl. They were already basing their opinions off a 3-second LQ snippet 

[yonsé]

um this SLAYS....nothing like what i expected at all 

 

this is gonna smash i think

[Breathe On Moi]

Not the recording academy in here damn 

[Protocol]

2 hours ago, Erreur2 La Nature said:

There’s some reverb during the chorus (maybe too much on the leak tbh) but that is in no way similar to sounding like a robot.

That’s what most people on ATRL don’t understand when they talk about autotune too. They have no idea what autotune is and use this term to describe an effect added over a voice. 

When did I say she was sounding like a robot?! I just said there's an absurd amount of reverb. I know what reverb is. Reverb can hide a bad vocal just as much as auto tune. And they would've used melodyne not auto tune. You assumed I meant she sounded robotic but what I said is that they "manipuluated" her vocal, aka a big vocal stack of effects, the most noticeable of which is way too much reverb.