Billy Joel will end his 17-year recording hiatus on February 1st with the release of “Turn The Lights Back On.” A press release states that the song is a “classic Billy Joel song that embodies the characteristics of his signature sound and ushers in the next chapter of his story.” In the lyrics he asks listeners: “Did I wait too long… to turn “The lights back on?”
“Turn The Lights Back” was produced by Freddy Wexler, who has worked with artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Blackpink, P!nk, Lil Wayne, Selena Gomez and Celine Dion. It was written by Wexler, Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector and Joel.
Joel first hinted that there might be new material at a show at Madison Square Garden late last year. “I have good news and bad news,” he said. “I’ll give you the bad news first. We don’t have anything new for you to play. The good news is that you don’t have to listen to something if you have no idea what it is. Although, we’re working on a little something that you might hear at some point.” A clip of this live moment became the first posting on Joel’s official TikTok account.
There hasn’t been a Billy Joel album since 2001’s classic piano album “Fantasies & Delusions,” which featured British-Korean pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo playing instrumentals written by Joel. His last pop record was “River of Dreams” in 1993. Since then he has toured extensively, but his only new singles were the two songs “All My Life” and “Christmas in Fallujah”, released in 2007. The first song was a love ballad to his then-wife Katie Lee, while the second was a rock song with Cass Dillon as lead singer. A live version with Joel on vocals was released in 2008.
Billy Joel: That’s why he was quiet for so long
In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2019, Joel spoke about his decision to stop releasing new songs. “I still write music,” he said. “I just don’t record them, and they’re not in song form. It’s a completely different kind of music. It is for my own edification only. I don’t feel compelled to include them. I don’t feel pressured to make myself relevant. Like I said, I lived the rock ‘n’ roll life, and I don’t write that anymore.
He continued: “I have a lot of music that no one has ever heard and that perhaps no one will ever hear if I don’t decide to do something with it. For me it’s really about the creative process, not about having records in the charts or selling a lot of records. I’m learning all the time, and you never stop learning. That’s the good thing about the writing process. You always learn something new when you create something.”
Joel’s next performance is a headlining gig on January 24th at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. During the year he plays a series of one-night-only shows with Sting in US stadiums. And on July 25, he will end his monthly Madison Square Garden residency after ten years.
This article was translated from English by Kristina Baum. You can find the original here.