Madonna and Elton John Tease New Collaboration
Time for a “Holiday”: Elton John and Madonna are enemies no more after his beautiful performance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, hosted by Jack Black. Amid the “Rocket Man” singer’s battle with a severe eye infection, he and the “Like a Prayer” hitmaker have buried their twenty year long beef.
In a post to her Instagram, the “Holiday” singer wrote about meeting the legendary star backstage, announcing that the pair had “buried the hatchet.” Madonna decided to attend the broadcast after realizing John would be there. She wrote, “Forgiveness is a powerful tool. Within minutes. We were hugging.”
The star, whose career spans nearly five decades, also shared a personal story of seeing John live in concert while in college. She admitted, “Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life.” However, she also revealed that it hurt her to see John publicly express dislike as her career progressed.
The root of the feud can be traced back to the early 2000s. Prior to that, John and Madonna were photographed several times. In 2002, however, John publicly denounced Madonna’s James Bond track, “Die Another Day.” He commented in part, “It hasn’t got a tune. They should have gone for somebody like Lulu and Shirley Bassey, or maybe I’m in that league?”
At the 2004 Q Awards, the superstar didn’t mince words when the “Like a Virgin” singer won Best Live Act. He questioned the singer’s live performances elaborating, “Anyone who lip syncs in public on stage when you pay 75 pounds to see them should be shot. Thank you very much.”
Madonna backstage with Elton John at the Brit Awards
— ͏ ͏ (@OdeioMadonna) December 15, 2024
[1995] pic.twitter.com/2jbiuvrPvC
Tensions continued to run high between the two until at least 2023, when John took to Instagram to thank the singer for her tribute to AIDS victims during her Celebration tour. Posting from his foundation account with his husband, David Furnish, the singer wrote, “Thank you, Madonna, for your advocacy and compassion, and for raising important awareness of the ongoing mission to end AIDS.”
In response to her Instagram post, John wrote, “Thank you for coming to see me at SNL. And thank you for forgiving me and my big mouth.”
He continued, “I’m hopeful that we can make great things happen for those who really need support. And have a lot of fun doing it!”
Last year, the five-time Grammy Award-winning singer revealed that in July, he contracted a severe eye infection that has since impaired vision in his left eye, and completely blinded his right. Despite this, he has remained optimistic on making new music, commenting, “There have been days I’ve been miserable, but then I think about how lucky I am, I’ve got a new respect for sight-impaired people, but I’ve got a great life and hopefully my sight will improve.”
Now though, the pair have made amends, and hinted at a collaboration in the works. While details have yet to be revealed, it’s safe to say that the song will be one for the music history books. You can watch Elton John’s performance on SNL below.
