Giorgio Moroder Talks Leaked Britney Spears Collaboration ‘Tom’s Diner’

Whose idea was it for Britney Spears to cover Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,“ the leaked track that’s currently burning up the Internet? It was none other than the singer’s own, according to legendary producer Giorgio Moroder.

“She wanted to redo ‘Tom’s Diner’ — that was something she wanted to do — and she asked me if I was interested in producing it and having it on my album, and I loved the idea,” Moroder tells Yahoo Music. The 74-year-old will include the track on Déjà Vu, his first solo album in over 30 years, which will be released June 16 on RCA Records.

“She must have liked the original voice of Suzanne Vega,” continues Moroder, noting that Spears emulates Vega’s no-frills singing style on her version of the 1991 hit.

Moroder — responsible for some of the biggest dance hits in history, including Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” and Irene Cara’s “Flashdance (What a Feeling)” — says he sought to keep Spears’s vocals as close to the recording as possible in the final mix.

“I listened a lot to her latest songs, which were all a little… the voice was a little mechanical, too many effects on some,while on this one, she’s basically without,” he says. “A little delay, but no effects, no nothing, so it sounds really natural. I don’t think you could say immediately, ‘Oh, this is Britney,’ because she sounds so good on this song.”

Other artists recruited for Déjà Vu include Sia, Charli XCX, and Kylie Minogue, the latter singing on the single “Right Here, Right Now,” which dropped earlier this year.