Britney Spears announces new song with Elton John on Twitter and deletes her Instagram

Britney Spears has deleted her Instagram, but all is not lost from one of our voice-iest celebrity account holders. She moved her broadcasts over to Twitter instead. 

“Okie dokie,” Britney Spears said, announcing an upcoming song with “one of the most classic men of our time, @eltonofficial,” who posted a snippet of the track on Wednesday to his own socials. It’s her first song in six years, Spears added. 

"!!!! I’m kinda overwhelmed…,” the performer said. “[I]t’s a big deal to me !!! I’m meditating more and learning my space is valuable and precious !!!”

The song is called “Hold Me Closer,” and is a redo of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Its release is slated for Friday, and it’s naturally rustled up some feelings in Spears. In the tweet thread, the performer went on: 

I’m learning everyday is a clean slate to try and be a better person and do what makes me happy … yes I choose happiness today. I tell myself every day to let go of the hurt bitterness and try to forgive myself and others to what may have been hurtful.

I want to be fearless like when I was younger and not be so scared and fearful. I pray there actually is truth to the Holy Spirit and I hope that spirit is with my children as well !!! Yes … I choose happiness and joy today !!!

Some of the tweets are likely a reference to the dispute between Spears, her ex-husband Kevin Federline, and their two boys, Sean Preston and Jayden James. Earlier this month, Federline shared videos of Spears allegedly arguing with the boys, and announced that they weren’t seeing their mother at the moment. Spears’s lawyer Mathew Rosengart said at the time to Page Six, “Whether he realizes it or not, Mr. Federline has not only violated the privacy and dignity of the mother of his children, he has undermined his own children, whose privacy he should protect.”

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He added, “In addition to demeaning himself and violating societal norms, he has now also created various legal issues for himself including, but not limited to, implicating cyber-harassment and cyber-bullying statutes, among other things.” (Federline’s attorney did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Rosengart’s statement.)

In July, Spears also wed her longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari. All of this has transpired less than a year since a court ordered the end of the conservatorship that managed her financial and physical life. It’s as good a time as any for a social media cleanse, and maybe she’s using the old trick of deleting the platform you love best, and using the one you like less.

Many stars have been making a clean break from social media for mental health. Selena Gomez (who attended Spears’s wedding) told Vogue in 2021 that she hasn’t been on social in years, leaving the posting up to an assistant. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland announced on August 13 that he decided to give social a rest. “I get caught up and I spiral when I read things about me online and ultimately it’s very detrimental to my mental state. So, I decided to take a step back and delete the app,” he said of Instagram and Twitter (his accounts still exist, he’s just not updating them). 

And Shawn Mendes, too, has been open with the very relatable habit of deleting and redownloading the apps over and over. Mendes has since done deleting Instagram one better and deleted (or rather cancelled) the remaining dates of his own tour for his mental health.

This article originally featured on Vanity Fair.