Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi
Elton John has admitted that his ongoing eyesight problems have made him “fucked at the moment” in terms of his usual creative processes, but he’s worked out a way to overcome it.
‘The Rocketman’ contracted a severe eye infection in 2024, with him previously describing the “devastating” repercussions as he now has significant sight loss.
However, when accepting the prestigious Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto, Canada, over the weekend, the English singer struck a resolute and optimistic tone as he described how the obstacle has given him a new method of songwriting.
John first said (per Rolling Stone): “I’ve had eye trouble recently and I always make records by looking at lyrics and writing to lyrics, and so I’m kind of fucked at the moment.”
He then added: “What my eye has given me is a chance of, at 80 years of age, completely reversing how I write. I’m writing melodies first, and lyrics coming second. I’ve never done that. And I’ve just done it.”
To this end, the singer revealed that he has just completed a new album, which he described as “so different to anything I’ve ever done before, but it’s so happy.”
On other subjects, John then played into the amusement of the rapt Canadian audience as he took a covert jibe at Donald Trump. “It’s so nice to be in Canada and have a concert for Canadian artists, who all I know. It’s also nice to be in a country that has common sense,” he said, eliciting cheers from the audience.
Although the musician retired from touring in 2023, he was clear that this would not mean an end to his musical projects. Having released a collaborative album with Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels?, in 2025, John shows no signs of stopping yet.
Despite this, he opened up about the impact of his health struggles in an interview with Variety, saying with regard to his sight loss, “It’s been devastating. Because I lost my right eye and my left eye’s not so good, the last 15 months have been challenging for me because I haven’t been able to see anything, watch anything, read anything.”
Later this year, John will make a rare live appearance at Brazil’s Rock in Rio after being unable to visit the region during his extensive farewell tour.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source faroutmagazine.co.uk ’
