Fans of legendary “Piano Man” Billy Joel are about to get new music.
The Grammy winner, 74, is gearing up to release his first single in nearly two decades, titled “Turn The Lights Back On,” Joel’s official website announced Jan. 22. The song will hit streaming services on Feb. 1, and will also be released on limited-edition 7-inch vinyl.
Joel also plans to release a lyric video for the song, which he co-wrote with Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector and Freddy Wexler, who produced the track.
“Turn the Lights Back On” is described as “a classic Billy Joel-style tune,” one that embodies the “hallmarks of his signature sound” while also “ushering in the next chapter of his story.”
Joel’s last single, “All My Life,” arrived in 2007, and his last full-length studio album of new material, the classical music collection “Fantasies & Delusions,” was released in 2001.
The “Uptown Girl” singer teased the arrival of “Turn The Lights Back On” during a recent live performance. He shared a video of the moment on Dec. 20 on his official TikTok channel.
“I have good news. I have bad news. I’ll give you the bad news first: We don’t have anything new to play for you,” Joel jokes to audience members’ laughter in the clip. “The good news is, you don’t have to sit through something you have no idea what it is. Although, we’ve got a little something we’re working on that you might hear sometime.”
Joel opened up to Howard Stern in 2021 about why he had stopped writing music with lyrics.
“You have to have the desire to write songs. I love music so I never stopped writing music. It’s instrumental music. But I stopped writing lyrics because I got tired of that particular format,” Joel explained.
“To me, music is enough now, and I became more comfortable with abstract form,” said Joel, who scored 13 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during his pop career, including three No. 1 hits: “It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me,” “Tell Her About It” and “We Didn’t Start The Fire.”
“But if I had an idea for a song, I’m not going to stop myself. I just haven’t had the desire to do it,” he added.
Joel went on to tell Stern that in moments of musical frustration, he looked at the piano as a “big black beast with 88 teeth that wants to bite my fingers off.”
He called trying but failing to write a song “the most frustrating feeling in the world.”
“The worst thing about songwriting is the struggle,” said Joel, adding, “I love having written. I hate writing.”
Though Joel’s new music output has been slim in recent years, he hasn’t shortchanged fans when it comes to live performances.
The singer announced in June 2023 that he would be wrapping up his record-breaking residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden in July 2024 after 10 years.
