For several days now, the foreign press seemed to be looking forward to his duet. Elton John With Britney Spears. Seems logical: “Hold Me Closer” is a mashup “The One” and his “Little Dancer” i.e. one of Sir Elton’s most famous songs (and one of the best pop songs ever written, if you ask me). It’s the same, Britney Spears musical return after her high-profile custody case over her father, 6 years after we last heard of her on headphones and didn’t see her in the headlines about her legal battles (or whether she reposted 5 identical selfies on Instagram). And this happens a year after “Cold heart”, another mashup of john and her Dua Lipa which continues to be repeated on radio stations, in bars and clubs.

All this is good, but there is no result. There is too much longing in “Hold Me Closer” (a repeat of last year’s hit “Cold Heart”). And its cheap dance beat makes it sound like a fast-paced track made in a few minutes in FL Studio, and it will find its place where it belongs: on the decks of idyllic clubs and cocktail bars of the “immortal summer”.

Of course, the case of Elton John and Britney Spears. this is not the only duo/collaboration where we seriously flirt with muting. In fact, we’ve heard…

Sting and Shaggy – “44/876”

Yes, we mean the notorious Shaggy, nicknamed “Mr. Bumbastic”, with whom Sting decided to collaborate in 2018 not only on one track, but also on the whole record “44/876” – they also came together. to our concert and even to Herodium. We’re sorry, but the answer to the track title is “I will.”

(Let’s remember that Sting once performed “Mad About You” with George Dallara.)

Frank Sinatra & Bono – “You’re Under My Skin”

This was the time when Bono was floating in the ocean of “Zoorop”, that is, in the confused stage between the pedal effects of “Achtung Baby” and the successful stylized production of “Pop”. To further confuse us, he sang along with Frank Sinatra, who released Duets that same year.

U2 and Green Day – “The Saints Are Coming”

One of Ireland’s top music exporters and a band that resurrected ’90s pop punk in its heyday, joined forces in 2005 to cover Scottish Skids and donate a portion of the single’s proceeds to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Although the track maintains an impressive balance of sound from both, the result remains warm.

Jay-Z and Linkin Park – “Collision Course”

Luna, even if you wanted to hide from “Numb/Encore”, you ended up listening to it almost in your sleep. The collaboration between Jay-Z and Linkin Park that spawned the “Collision Course” EP was a hit, especially the track above. Eighteen years later, we are still trying to figure out why.

Lou Reed and Metallica – “Lulu”

No collaboration in recent history has been able to crack the grain of the musical landscape quite like Lou Reed’s collaboration with Metallica in 2011 (reminiscent of Metal Machine Music, so to speak). Some called it a masterpiece, others didn’t want to see it in front of them (Pitchfork gave “Lulu” 1/10), which is undoubtedly the fact that when listening to the album, it causes very unpleasant sensations. But we’ll leave Chuck Klosterman to comment: “Even if the Red Hot Chili Peppers did acoustic covers of the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, they would sound better.”

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson – Say Say Say

In 1982, the Beetle and the King of Pop sang “The Girl Is Mine” together on Thriller and we had no complaints. A year later, they were asked to team up again, this time for the song “Say Say Say” on McCartney’s “Pipes of Peace” album, and the truth is, they could have avoided it.

(Meanwhile, we once heard—and want to forget—Michael Jackson’s collaboration with Eddie Murphy on Whatzupwitu.)

Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page – “Come With Me”

The “Kashmir” riff might sound epic enough for a Godzilla soundtrack, as it did on the 1998 movie soundtrack, but we can’t say the recipe caught on. Hey, not everyone can do what Run DMC did with Aerosmith on Walk This Way.

Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone – “Keep in My Bedroom”

In the 1984 film Rock Crystal, Sylvester Stallone played an aspiring country singer who comes to New York to be taken in by a club owner (Dolly Parton) who promises she can make any neighbor a star in two weeks. Their duet above heard in the movie is proof that this shouldn’t happen.

Philippos Platsikas and BD Foxmoor – “The Score”

We endured a lot from each of the two of them separately, but the fact that they sang together on the shore simply amazed us.

Anna Vissi and Dave Stewart – “Leap of Faith”

We saw Anna Vissi sing on stage with Chris Cornell, but here she preferred ½ Eurythmics, showing that for Dave Stewart, “Annie Lennox – Anna Vissi” is a “first class break, double finale”. Again, not for us.

Sofia Arvaniti and Bonnie Tyler – “Die in the Desert”

Once upon a time, you say back and forth duets were very fashionable. From this mod, we must remember (?), among other things, the collaboration of Sofia Arvanitis with Bonnie Tyler.

Michalis Rakintzis and Ian Gillan – “Get Away”

Of course, if we have to pick the most delightfully bad surprise duo born from Greece’s partnership with a foreign country, it will undoubtedly be Michalis Rakintzis’ duet with the voice of Deep Purple.