“Mind Your Business,” the third collaboration between Will.i.am and Britney Spears, is out Friday

For Will.i.am, working with Britney Spears seemed like old stomping grounds.

The Black Eyed Peas leader called in from Saint Tropez, France, and spoke candidly with CBS Mornings on Thursday about his most recent project with the pop princess, the song “Mind Your Business,” which will be released on Friday.

It’s the second song Spears has shared since her 13-year conservatorship came to an end, and it’s the third song she and Will.i.am have written together. Their first collaboration was on “Scream & Shout,” which appeared on Will.i.am’s 2013 album #willpower. Although they haven’t spoken in ten years and despite everything she has been through, the rapper and record producer told Nate Burleson that Spears’ attitude in the recording studio was all too familiar.

Many people find that listening to and creating music can be therapeutic. Will.i.am, 48, claimed that dancing is therapeutic for many music producers and music fans. “Anything you’re going through is made easier when you have that connection with music, rhythm, song, melody, and harmony and you express yourself through that. Every time I watch her dance on Instagram, I get excited because I can tell how much she loves music.

When you’re in the studio creating music, collaborating with her occasionally is all that matters, he continued. “So I see the same light, joy, love, and passion.”

When asked how the new collaboration came about, Will.i.am praised Spears. I’ve supported Britney over the years as a friend, fan, and supporter, he declared. “A supporter in the sense of someone who goes out and listens to her music, a supporter in the sense of someone who stands up for her when she was fighting for her freedom. She is a wonderful lady.

The 41-year-old Spears and Will.i.am collaborated for the first time on 2011’s “Big Fat Bass,” which was included on Spears’ album Femme Fatale. On Monday, he unintentionally revealed their brand-new song by posting a 16-second teaser clip to social media that included their famous “You are now NOW rocking with will.i.am and Britney, bitch” line from “Scream & Shout.”

He tagged Spears and added the message “UH OH!!!”

“The date is July 21st… I’m so looking forward to this release,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “It feels like it was just released for the first time,” you said.

Will.i.am revealed on CBS Mornings that the song’s title, “Mind Your Business,” will be an anthem for fans everywhere who desire a little privacy.

The song’s lyrics, he continued, “point to the fact that when you’re in the spotlight, you often just want to live your life; this is true for everyone.” “Even in my verse, I state, ‘Hands up in the cookie jar / they watching me, they watching y’all. That has to do with privacy and every person who believes that their private life on social media is being compromised. There is a fine line, and everyone is entitled to some degree of privacy. ‘Mind Your Business’ is exactly that.

Spears and Elton John last collaborated on the 2022 song “Hold Me Closer.” The chorus of John’s 1972 smash “Tiny Dancer” and the verses of his 1992 hit single “The One” were blended with a modern, dance-pop sound for the song.

“She developed her own concepts. In a Rolling Stone interview, “Hold Me Closer” producer Andrew Watt said, “She wanted to speed up the album a little bit, and we accomplished that. She was certain of her intentions. She had devoted a lot of time to the album; she was familiar with all the songs; it was sort of her thing.

“It was really awesome to witness and see her be so powerful and crush it,” he continued. She contributed right up until the final mix, and she sounds fantastic on the song.

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Spears’ upcoming memoir, The Woman in Me, was exclusively revealed by PEOPLE earlier this month. It will be released on October 24. In a press statement, Gallery Books stated that the book would shed light on “the enduring power of music and love — and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms.”

A courageous and incredibly emotional tale about freedom, celebrity, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope.

Every weekday at 7 a.m. ET, CBS airs CBS Mornings.