Billy Joel releases new song 'Turn the Lights Back On' ahead of Grammy Awards performance

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read
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Three decades after the release of his last pop album, Billy Joel is unveiling new music.

“Turn the Lights Back On” arrived Thursday on all digital platforms and limited-edition 7-inch vinyl. A lyric video was also released on Joel’s YouTube channel.

The "Piano Man" is bringing his pop comeback to one of music's biggest stages. Joel is set to perform at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, which air live on CBS Sunday.

The five-time Grammy winner and recipient of a Grammy Legend Award teased his new material in a Jan. 22 social media post. The video showed Joel turning the page on the lyrics to his 1993 song “Famous Last Words,” which includes the refrain "These are the last words I have to say." The snippet of "Turn the Lights Back On" opened with melancholy piano chords before fading out.

Joel, who isn’t known for working with other writers, penned the song with Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector and Freddy Wexler (Ariana Grande, Celine Dion), who also produced.

Billy Joel rang in 2024 in front of a hometown crowd on Long Island at UBS Arena with a two-and-a-half hour performance.
Billy Joel rang in 2024 in front of a hometown crowd on Long Island at UBS Arena with a two-and-a-half hour performance.

Joel teased the possibility of new music both at his Dec. 19 residency concert at Madison Square Garden, where he told the crowd “we got a little something we’re working on you might hear sometime,” and on his social media accounts in recent days, where he posted the lyrics, “Did I wait too long … to turn the lights back on?”

Though Joel released the 2007 ballad “All My Life” as a valentine to then-wife Katie Lee, he hasn’t produced a pop album since 1993’s “River of Dreams,” and has spoken frequently about his reluctance to record new music. His last studio album, 2001’s “Fantasies & Delusions,” spotlighted his classical compositions.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer turns 75 in May but remains a perennial road warrior. He has several stadium dates this year (joined by Stevie Nicks and Sting at some) and will wrap his residency at the Garden in July after an immensely successful decade of near-monthly shows.

More: Billy Joel: His life in pictures

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Billy Joel new song: Singer releases 'Turn the Lights Back On'