Julian is currently promoting his latest album, Jude, and went on Elton’s podcast Rocket Hour to talk about his life and music. He previously released tracks Every Little Moment and Freedom, but hit headlines when he covered his father’s iconic Imagine for the first time ever. In the frank chat, he emotionally discusses his decision to do this, something he had “dreaded all my life” as well as confronting the pain of his childhood and the legendary song it inspired. SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW

Julian released his version of Imagine on April 8 this year, with a moving accompanying video.

He said: “Let me tell you know, since I’ve been in the business, I’ve kind of been dreading the day that I’m… Because I’d always said that I would only actually sing it if it felt like it was the end of the world, in many respects. And after watching what’s been going on over the past couple of years, and especially recently with Russia and Ukraine, the people of Global Citizen said, ‘Got anything up your sleeve?’ And I’ve been watching the horrors on TV, as we all have.

“I just felt, this is it. And once I’d said yes, if I had anxiety before, once I’d said, yes, I went, “Oh my God, how am I going to do this, that honours it, and is different and is my own take, but still respects it in every way, shape or form?”

Julian has named his new album Jude, which was also his childhood nickname.

He said: ” t felt very much a sort of coming of age, I guess. Especially as life moves on, you tend to look at your life and look at where you’ve come from. And especially after having seen the Get Back movie with (half-brother) Sean and (George Harrison’s daughter) Olivia, and then Stella (McCartney) being there. I mean, I’d had the idea of the name before that, but it was just made so that it felt even more right.”

Julian also confirmed that Hey Jude was written especially for him and about him.

Julian added: “Well, it was McCartney. ‘Hey Jude’ was in fact, ‘Hey, Jules’ in its initial stages. And it was very much written about him thinking about me and my circumstances and that I needed to be strong and at the end of the day, find my way through this mess that I was going to be in… 

“I think I honoured the song and I think I honoured where I’ve come from, my legacy, so to speak, my heritage. I think, again, now just felt like the right time, because life is too short and this felt perfect for this moment, too.”

John Lennon had, by his own admission, been an absent and uncommitted father and husband. He divorced Cynthia after six years of marriage in 1968 and had relatively little involvement in his son’s life for many years, even cruelly saying his conception was a drunken mistake. They were somewhat reconciled in John’s final years, before he was murdered in 1980.

Elton John’s Rocket Hour is available on Apple Music 1.