Billy Joel shares his grand musical return ahead of the Grammys

While he’s certainly kept himself busy breaking records with his residency at Madison Square Garden and inspiring the next generation of singer-songwriters like one Olivia Rodrigo, Billy Joel has been absent from the songwriting scene himself for almost two decades now. That changed this week, as the legendary artist finally released his first proper single in 17 years—a soaring ballad titled “Turn The Lights Back On.”

Despite the 31-year gap, Joel’s voice is as clear here as it was on his last studio album—1993's River Of Dreams—or, frankly, as it ever was. Despite releasing a pair of singles in 2007 (“All My Life” and “Christmas in Fallujah”), Joel seems to be singing directly to the man he used to be when that album came out.

“These are the last words I have to say/That’s why it took so long to write/There will be other words some other day/But that’s the story of my life,” he wrote on River Of Dreams’ closing track, “Famous Last Words,” back in 1993. Now, that special someday has come. In the new single’s chorus, Joel croons over a lofty piano track:

I’m late, but I’m here right now
Though I used to be romantic
I forgot somehow
Time can make you blind
But I see you now
As we’re laying in the darkness
Did I wait too long
To turn the lights back on?

The song is equal parts mournful and celebratory, filled with grand melodies that are more than deserving of a place in Joel’s impressive oeuvre. “Turn The Lights Back On” was co-written with Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector, and Freddy Wexler, a producer who’s also worked with Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, and more.

In an interview with the Audacy Check In podcast (via Billboard), Joel revealed that it was Wexler who helped him rediscover his love for writing after he “turned the lights off because it wasn’t fun anymore.”

“Other people have tried to talk me into going back in and doing new material, and making the recordings, and I’ve always resisted it. I studiously avoided it because songwriting had become painful,” Joel said. “I have this high bar. I said to myself, ‘If I don’t reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punched myself and I hate myself.’ So, I stopped doing it because I got tired of feeling like that.” Wexler’s compositions, however, “struck [him] immediately.” “It was all kind of falling into place,” he continued. “Who am I to fight that?”

Wexler echoed Joel’s sentiments in a long Instagram tribute in which he called Joel “the reason I became a songwriter.” “This whole story is a reminder that it’s never too late to #turnthelightsbackon in doing what you love, chasing your dreams, or rediscovering your own passion and joy,” the producer wrote.

This Sunday, Joel is set to make another grand return. He’ll be performing “Turn The Lights Back On” at the Grammys, his first performance at the awards in 22 years. Welcome back, Billy!