Two-time Oscar winner Elton John is back in the awards conversation with his inspirational ballad, “Never Too Late,” a duet with Grammy winner Brandi Carlile featured in the Disney documentary about his life, Elton John: Never Too Late. Shortlisted for Best Original Song at the 2025 Oscars, the title track was co-written by John and Carlile in collaboration with Bernie Taupin, John’s longtime writing partner, and producer Andrew Watt.
The 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is no stranger to accolades. Last year, John became the 19th artist to achieve EGOT status when Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium won the Emmy for Best Variety Special (Live). This win completed his grand slam of showbiz awards, which include the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Here, John tells Gold Derby about his EGOT moment, how his collaboration with Carlile came to be — and the real reason he hopes “Never Too Late” gets an Oscar nomination.
Last year, you achieved EGOT status. Was that something you purposely set out to achieve once it was within reach?
John: I’ve never, ever thought of an EGOT before. The first award that I won out of those four was a Grammy (“That’s What Friends Are For” in 1986), and then I won an Oscar (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King in 1995), and then I won a Tony (Aida in 2000). I never thought about television and Emmys, to be honest with you, until we did the live event from Dodger Stadium. I never thought about getting an Emmy, and I didn’t really know what an EGOT was until my husband picked up the award and said, “Oh, by the way, you’re an EGOT.” And I said, “What’s that?” I was so stunned that I was the 19th person to get one. It feels amazing! There’s a great legacy of people who won those awards. You don’t set out in life to win awards. You pick them up, and you’re very grateful to have them. But I don’t make music to get awards. I don’t make records to get awards, but when you do get them, I’m not going to lie; it’s very nice.
How did you end up collaborating with Brandi Carlile on “Never Too Late”? And how does it feel to be shortlisted for Best Original Song at the Oscars?
John: I’m very happy because I love the song so much. It’s a very personal song Brandi wrote two years ago when she came and stayed with me in the south of France with her family. David (Furnish) showed her a rough cut of the documentary — which I hadn’t seen by then — and she was very moved because we’ve known each other for a long time. She wrote the song, and when I saw the lyrics — Bernie Taupin, Andrew Watt, Brandi, and I all had a say in this song, but she wrote the main lyric — and it just moved everything to another place. The documentary was going to be called Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which is fair enough but boring. Never Too Late is now the title of the documentary, and it sums the documentary up because, in my life, it’s never too late to do anything.
There’s been so many pivotal moments in my life where I’ve changed track. The biggest one, of course, is getting sober. But to fight adversity, whether it’s operations or drug addiction or whatever, is always a challenge. And luckily enough, I’ve had the people around me to help me overcome those challenges. So, once you’ve overcome one challenge, you think that’s it. And now you come across another one. So, there never seems to be an end to it, but every challenge makes you stronger. It makes you appreciate your life more. It makes you appreciate your loved ones more. So, as soon as I saw the lyrics of this song, I couldn’t wait to write. I wrote the melody very quickly because it was about me. It was like when I did the Captain Fantastic album, which Bernie wrote about us, and it was so easy to write because, hey, this is our story. S,o this was a real gift from the gods.
How quickly does the melody for a song come to you?
John: It’s all about the written word. When I see the written word for some reason, and I’ve never questioned it, mainly with Bernie, of course, or 99% of the time with Bernie, something happens when I see the title of a song, the first verse, and the chorus, and it just comes to me. There’s this incredible relationship, and I don’t know what it is, with me and the written word and, thank God, because I’m a terrible lyric writer. I’ve had the blessing of every time I get a lyric, whether it’s from Bernie or, in this case, Brandi and Bernie, I look forward to it because I don’t know what I’m going to get.
So, it’s always a new scenario. I never tire of writing a song because I’m never sure what to get. Every new lyric presents a new challenge and a new story. This is a song about my life. “You’re an iron man baby, and to hell with Heaven’s gate. It’s never too late.” And that’s me.
When you see lyrics, do you instantly know if you’re writing a ballad or an uptempo song?
John: Yeah. “Never Too Late,” for example, will be a ballad because it addresses very serious and wonderful things. It’s not going to be jolly, and it’s not going to be something that the Rockettes will dance to, but it’s meaningful and respectful to the lyric because the lyric is so beautiful. You have to write a beautiful kind of song or melody to fit those lyrics. That’s the challenge — to ensure the lyrics get the credit they should have. It was fairly easy to write that song and I’m so proud of it.
What is the key to a successful writing partnership?
John: Bernie Taupin and I have a magical formula, and we’ve been writing for 60-something years, and it’s just an amazing relationship. We’ve never written in the same room. We don’t argue. We get on with it. It’s one of the most incredible, beautiful things that’s ever happened to me in my life, this relationship with this man who was completely different from me. I’m completely different from him, but for some reason, we gel when it comes to music.
What was it like to have this personal documentary released for everyone to see?
John: I saw it for the second time at the film festival in Toronto and really liked it. I was very pleased with how the first five years of the music sounded so good. And I don’t often sit and listen to my own music, but it sounded really good. I was so proud of that. My life’s been a whirlwind. There’s never a dull moment, as you can see, and it brought back a lot of memories. It all came out beautifully in the end. My husband, my children, my happiness, my decision to come off the road, and my contentment of being who I am at this particular time in my life. I can’t ask for more.
I’ve never been as happy. I’ve never been as content. And I’ve put a lot of work into all those years. I don’t regret a thing. I may, of course, wish I hadn’t taken the drugs, but in the end, the drug-taking got me to become the person I am now. So everything is there for a reason. I’m just really grateful to have been through all this and come out the other side. I’m really, really so happy.
What would another Oscar nomination or win mean to you?
John: There are some good songs out there. Being nominated would be fine because it would allow me to sing the song in front of people. That’s all I’m looking for at the moment. I would look forward to that because this song means so much to me. But we haven’t been nominated yet, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.
