Elton John explains how vision loss made him change the way he writes songs

The legendary pianist and singer Elton John revealed in 2024 that he was blind in his right eye and could not see anything. He has been recovering from an eye infection that caused temporary blindness. However, the recovery has been slow, and the vision in his left eye is still not good, so he said he cannot read or watch anything.

When accepting the Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto this week, Elton John took time during his speech to explain how he had to change his songwriting process because of this condition.

Elton John explains how vision loss made him change the way he writes songs

“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. 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.”

“And I’ve just done an album, which is so different to anything I’ve ever done before, but it’s so happy. I’m so thrilled with it because it’s given me another chance to make music. If I don’t make music, I’m dead. If don’t listen to music, I’m dead. Music is my soul, my driving force. It is everything and has been everything to me all my life,” he said.

The name and release date of Elton’s upcoming album was still not revealed. Although he did his farewell tour a couple of years ago, Elton will play at Brazil’s Rock in Rio this year. He said he accepted the invitation because he didn’t play in South America during his farewell tour.

Born in Pinner, Middlesex, England back in 1947, Elton John started his musical career in 1962, releasing his solo debut album “Empty Sky” in 1969. Since then he became one of the best-selling artists of all time with an estimated amount of more than 300 million records sold worldwide.