Billy Joel’s first new pop song in 17 years is a love letter to his fans

Billy Joel is officially back, releasing his first song in nearly two decades — and proving the great singer-songwriter has lost none of his class. Listen to the new track.

Billy Joel extends an olive branch to his fans with his rich, romantic return to pop music on Turn The Lights Back On, his first single in 17 years.

Joel shut up shop on pop in the mid 2000s, seemingly deciding that as fans would always prefer his old stuff to his new stuff, and no one was making money off records anymore these days, what’s the point?

While the song on its surface serenades a lover he has been taking for granted for way too long, it also serves as a love letter to fans who have waited all these years for something new from the 74-year-old superstar which would match the brilliance of The Piano Man or She’s Always A Woman To Me.

Billy Joel’s new stuff sounds like his old stuff. Picture: Getty

“I’m late, but I’m here right now, And I’m tryin’ to find the magic, That we lost somehow,” he sings.

Turn The Lights Back On is a classic Joel piano waltz, his distinctive classical runs on the black and white keys, instantly transporting you back to his early 1970s run of hits, the songs that made him a global chart star.

There’s a world-weary catch in his voice which is less the seasoning of his vocal cords and more Joel using his voice as an instrument to tug at your heartstrings as he tells his lover he sees them after years of emotional distance.

Fans can thank producer and co-writer Freddy Wexler for Joel’s return to the studio. Wexler, who has helmed hits for Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, Blackpink and Celine Dion, is a Joel superfan and orchestrated a meeting via a mutual acquaintance, the Piano Man’s family doctor.

The River of Dreams legend agreed to a 10-minute lunch near his Sag Harbour home in New York but the pair hit it off and they started working together to finish off some tracks unearthed from Joel’s vault.

During those sessions, Wexler shared his demo of Turn The Lights Back On to gauge if the songwriting master would be into recording a new track.

“I heard it and I went, ‘That’s not bad. That’s a pretty good song. That’s possibly something I could have written or I would’ve liked to have finished,” Joel told iHeartRadio’s Elvis Duran.

“And then he said, ‘So why don’t you come down to our studio and sing it?”

Aussie fans are waiting for the Piano Man to return to our stages within the next 18 months. Picture: Getty

Wexler has wisely kept the faith with Joel’s sound in the production, putting his voice and the piano front and centre, augmented with a delicate and then swelling orchestral backing.

You can guarantee there will be a standing ovation when Joel performs the song for the first time at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Monday.

It is likely he will return to Australian stages this year after wowing a sold-out crowd with his One Night Only performance at the MCG in 2022.

Originally published as Billy Joel’s first new pop song in 17 years is a love letter to his fans