Photo Credit: Billy Joel
Billy Joel releases his first new music video in decades for ‘Turn the Lights Back On,’ utilizing AI technology to showcase a performance through the ages of Joel’s life.
On the heels of the debut of his first new song in years, “Turn the Lights Back On,” Billy Joel has unveiled his first new music video in decades to accompany it. Directed by Warren Fu of Dua Lipa and Daft Punk fame, alongside producer and co-writer Freddy Wexler, the video utilizes groundbreaking AI technology from Deep Voodoo (Kendrick Lamar, Juice WRLD) to showcase Billy Joel performing the new track throughout the different decades of his life.
Billy Joel took the stage at the 2024 Grammy Awards for the debut performance of “Turn the Lights Back On,” while the single has done numbers on radio stations and streaming. It exploded at No. 1 on Classic Hits, Classic Rock, Most Added, Greatest Spin Gainer, Greatest Audience Gainer, and Top 10 Chart Debut at Adult Contemporary Radio at No. 8 — the highest spot on the chart for Joel since 1993. The song is also the first from Joel to break the Billboard Hot 100 since 1997.
Initially alluded to on TikTok just after his debut on the platform, “Turn the Lights Back On” delivers a classic Billy Joel tune that embodies the signatures of his sound. “In a stacked catalog of classic ballads, ‘Turn the Lights Back On’ will stand as one of his most affecting,” writes NPR’s Robin Hilton.
Billy Joel remains one of the most influential American artists and a generational storyteller without peer. He has sold over 160 million albums worldwide, becoming “the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States,” alongside garnering six Grammy Awards, dozens of nominations and accolades, and induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and 1999, respectively. In 2002, he was MusiCares’ Person of the Year, and received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013.
