PNAU tease surprise Cold Heart reunion with Elton John at his Glastonbury 2023 headline slot: "That's a great idea!"

The Australian dance legends chat to us about their new single, The Hard Way with Khalid.
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Australian dance legends PNAU have teased a cold, cold reunion with Elton John at his Glastonbury headline slot this year. 

Of course, the trio - comprised of brothers Nick and Sam Littlemore as well as Peter Mayes - reached Number 1 on the UK's Official Singles Chart with their remix of Elton's classic Cold Heart featuring Dua Lipa - which helped kickstart a modern day revival for the pop great, helping him break an Official Chart record and arguably become more relevant than ever to modern audiences. 

One of the great injustices of Cold Heart's release, however, is that COVID restrictions and such robbed us of the chance to see the song's three integral artists, Elton, Dua and PNAU, all join together on stage for the first time.

Well, we're not saying we're hedging our bets on a Cold Heart singalong at Elton's forthcoming Glastonbury set this summer... but after jumping on a Zoom with PNAU, we also wouldn't be surprised.

MORE: Glastonbury 2023 line-up revealed

"Good idea!" Pnau member Nick tells us with a sly bit of sarcasm. " It's a great idea. Lead with that... with a big question mark. I do think that we would love to [put that idea] out there. Let's put it into the universe!"

But before we get to the summer - PNAU have a lot of work on their hands releasing impeccably crafted synth-pop bangers with a wide range of modern pop stars. They started off the year teaming up with fellow Australian pop icon Troye Sivan for the 90s-esque You Know What I Need, and have just dropped another great track, The Hard Way.

Leaning into a decidedly more opulent 80s aesthetic - PNAU see it as a post-disco record, we hear a bombastic Stock Aitken Waterman referencing pop tune and we all agree both takes are valid - The Hard Part sees the trio team up with American R&B superstar Khalid, who sounds insanely gorgeous on the track.

"He's always been one of your dream artists," PNAU tell us of collaborating with Khalid. "He really elevated the music, there's so much of his heart in what he does. We think it's going to be a really powerful record in the club."

And don't worry, there is more to come from the trio. With The Hard Part taking flight, PNAU have another banger locked safely in the vaults, Stars with Bebe Rexha, that they assure us is dropping soon (Bebe recently released her own banger, Heart Wants What It Wants).

"We just have to find the right window that works for her," the share. "But, she loves the song. She's super fantastic and she's really excited about it. It's definitely coming soon, don't worry."

As for artists who are still on the group's hitlist... they'd love to collaborate with 070 Shake (who recently scored her first UK Number 1 with Raye's Escapism) and Lizzo ("of course, we mean a lot of people want to work with Lizzo") and we have accidentally A&Red a session with Adele herself.

"It would so fun to do, like, a classic disco record with Adele," they enthuse. "That would be incredible. Let's manifest that."

Consider us manifesting!

The Hard Part by PNAU & Khalid is out now via Insanity.

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MK

Mujahid Khan

1

Like to see them try an ABBA remix, and talking about summer, why not collaborate with Bananarama and do a Cruel Summer. As far as disco is concerned, the main disco songs are from the mid 70s, and artist like Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Chic, Boney M, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson and so on stand big.

avatar

Velvet Android

1

1) "Legends"? Really? Nothing wrong with PNAU, but just because they've been around for a while hardly merits that description.

2) They didn't do a "remix of Elton's classic Cold Heart". Cold Heart was a new song, hence not a 'classic'. It was based on several Elton classics, but those were Sacrifice and Rocket Man among others.
3) No, yet again, Elton did not "break an Official Chart record" by becoming the first artist to score Top Ten singles in six different decades. Cliff Richard already did it in the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s. Why OCC have a bee in their bonnet about repeatedly claiming the feat for Elton and ignoring it for Cliff, I have no idea.

That was just the first five lines of the article. Carry on.