Sir Elton John is proud to be friends with "candid and wonderful" pop star Chappell Roan

Speaking to the audience at the glitzy bash, Elton said: "[I] just freaked out [when I heard her music.

"I immediately wanted to get her on the program, and she came on the program and I interviewed her and I fell in love with her and I fell in love with the album. I've continued to be her friend hopefully and speak to her quite a lot."

He added: "[She is] one of the biggest stars in the world right now, quite rightly so. [She] not only speaks with her voice on stage, she speaks with her voice off stage in a voice candid and wonderful way ..."

Roan went on to kick off her set with her hit 'Femininomenon' and later gave a shout out to the host - and thanked her parents for introducing her to his music as she started a cover of Elton's track 'Your Song'.

She told the crowd: "I'm gonna sing a song that is one of my favorite songs of all time. ... I think it's like, I don't know, maybe the best song of all time.

"I dedicate it to my parents because they introduced me to Elton John, so I would not even be here were it not for them, and obviously, Elton, this is your song."

The performance comes just weeks after Roan picked up the Best New Artist prize at the Grammy Awards and used her acceptance speech to call out record labels over their treatment of their artists.

Speaking on stage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Roan, 27, said: "I told myself if I ever won a Grammy, and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a liveable wage and health care, especially to developing artists.

"I got signed so young, I got signed as a minor. When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt, and like most people, I had ... quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and [could not] afford insurance.

"It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanised. If my label had prioritised it, I could have been provided care for a company I was giving everything to.

"Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage and health insurance and protection. Labels, we got you, but do you got us?"