Britney Spears YouTube video details her struggles as her and Elton John’s new song tops charts

Britney Spears has lifted the lid on the past 15 years with a dramatic video that has quickly been deleted. See what she revealed.

Britney Spears and Elton John have collaborated on a new single. Picture: Getty Images for EJAF

Britney Spears has shocked fans with a new 22 minute video to her YouTube channel where she speaks about her turbulent past.

On Monday Spears posted a link to an unlisted YouTube upload which featured her talking with no vision about her struggles for independence, working 12 hour days while her family stayed at her beach house and the process of rebuilding her life since the 13-year conservatorship over her affairs was dissolved late last year.

The more than 20 minute clip was deleted about half an hour later.Spears continues to communicate with her loyal fans via Twitter this week after seemingly shutting down her Instagram account just before the release of Hold Me Closer.

Spears said she had many offers to share her story, including from Oprah.

She said it was “kind of silly” to do an interview like that about her hardships.

She told how she fought back against the conservatorship in 2016 as she released her album Glory.

“For some reason, I started to get a spark back. I started making Glory, and I got the fire back in my eyes. I started getting more confidence, and with confidence, people were like ‘What’s going on now, she’s speaking up a little more.

“I think with confidence comes enlightenment, which makes you think better. That’s the last thing they wanted,” she said.

Britney Spears and Sir Elton John’s new song has gone number one.

“I had to just play this role, that everything was OK all the time. I knew they could hurt me.”

Spears claims she was sent to a mental health facility against her will in 2019 in revenge for speaking out during rehearsals for her cancelled Vegas residency Domination.

“I didn’t want to ever go there. I remember calling my dad on the phone crying, and he said ‘You have to listen to the doctors. I can’t help you now.’”

She began to doubt there was a God during her time there.

“How did they get away with it, and what the f**k did I do to deserve that?” she ask

The instant chart-topping success of her Elton John assisted comeback has given Spears a much-needed confidence boost about her future in pop music.

The pop superstar pair traded messages of love to each other over the weekend as their Hold Me Closer single smashed straight to No.1 on iTunes in more than 40 countries around the world.

While it has yet to post big results on the streaming charts as they take a few days to update, Spears was quick to celebrate by sending John a “Holy Shit!” video message.

“I’m in the tub right now and I’m about to go have the best day ever...,” she said.

She was invited to attend the 2022 MTV VMAs in New Jersey but declined due to a scheduling conflict which has kept her in Los Angeles, where she is reportedly working on a video for Hold Me Closer.

Spears deactivated her Instagram account after her new song with Elton John was released.

“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,” she tweeted after the song dropped.

“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.”

The 40-year-old pop star switched to Twitter on Thursday to declare the song’s release is “a big deal to me”, after her Instagram went dark 12 hours ahead of Hold Me Closer’s release.

“I want to be fearless like when I was younger and not be so scared and fearful,” she posted.

“I pray there actually is truth to the Holy Spirit and I hope that spirit is with my children as well !!!” she concluded, referencing her sons, Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15.

“Yes … I choose happiness and joy today️!!!”

She added: “my first song in 6 years!!!! It’s pretty damn cool that I’m singing with one of the most classic men of our time … @eltonofficial!!!!” she wrote.

She sid she has also begun “meditating more” and “learning [her] space is valuable and precious”.

It is the comeback single of the year and Spears’ collaboration with John on the Hold Me Closer mash-up banger has a secret significance for both artists in its verses.

John invited the pop superstar to join him on the song, her first official new single in six years, which was produced by American hit maker Andrew Watt.

While the hook everyone will be singing along to belongs to the chorus of his 1971 classic Tiny Dancer – immortalised in the 2000 film Almost Famous – there appears to be a deliberate choice behind taking Hold Me Closer’s verses from his song The One, released 30 years ago.

It was the debut single and title track of his 1992 album The One, his first studio album project after undergoing treatment for his drug and alcohol addiction and bulimia in 1990.

For Spears, the lyrics represent her artistic rebirth after gaining her freedom when her 13-year conservatorship was finally dissolved in November last year.

Elton John debuted his new song with Britney Spears at a Cannes restaurant. Picture: Instagram

“I saw you dancin’ out the ocean, Runnin’ fast along the sand, A spirit born of earth and water, Fire flyin’ from your hands,” they sing.

The single’s artwork features childhood photos of both artists, Spears in a pink dance tutu and a black and white throwback shot of a smiling John at the piano.

Elton John is nearing the end of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour. Picture: AFP

The collaboration between two of pop’s most iconic artists is likely to prove lightning strikes twice as John reimagines his enviable catalogue of hits for the streaming generation.

A year after he gave the world a sneak peak of his Cold Heart single with Dua Lipa – remixed by Australian electronic outfit PNAU – he returned to the same restaurant, La Guerite in Cannes, to spin the song to an adoring crowd of holiday-makers a couple of days before its official release.

Different cover art for the cracking new Elton John and Britney Spears tune. Picture: Supplied

Cold Heart remains in the ARIA top 50 more than a year after its release and has become his biggest hit in the streaming era, generating more than one billion streams on Spotify and 300 million views on YouTube.

Hold Me Closer marks Spears’ first new release since streaming became the dominant platform. Her biggest song on Spotify is Toxic, which has more than 800 million streams but she has yet to bust through the one billion ceiling.

The song will no doubt join the Rocketman’s setlist when he returns to Australia for a final leg here of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour in January.

Originally published as Britney Spears YouTube video details her struggles as her and Elton John’s new song tops charts