Friday, May 22, 2026

Elton John Samples Himself And Gets “Cold Heart,” His Biggest Hit in 21 Years, with Dua Lipa

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Why hasn’t anyone else thought of this?

Elton John has a smash hit with Dua Lipa, his first hit single in 21 years. The song is called “Cold Heart,” and it comes from Elton sampling himself, or interpolating.

Producer P’Nau took Elton’s 1989 single, “Sacrifice,” and mashed it up with his 1972 classic, “Rocket Man.” They retitled the song, “Cold Heart,” from the “Sacrifice” chorus. Elton sings from that song, Dua Lipa sings the refrain from “Rocket Man.”

The result is that “Cold Heart” has sold 40,000 copies in two weeks including streaming. Billboard just put it at number 81 on the new Hot 100. Radio is playing it. I actually heard it blaring from my neighbor’s apartment last week.

“Cold Heart” is number 14 on iTunes, and climbing!

Whoever thought of this gets a prize. Now all legacy artists will start digging through their catalogs. Self-sampling will be a new thing!

And PS Elton John is always “in,” in every generation.

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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