Billy Joel - 'Turn The Lights Back On' Review
- by Peter Källman
- in Reviews
Billy Joel releases a new soft piano ballad titled 'Turn The Lights Back On.' This is a beautiful song that was also delivered by the iconic singer during a performance at the Grammy Awards stage. This performance was accompanied by a live orchestra which really supported his already amazing vocals very well. Just before the performance, Joel talked a bit about why he took a break from songwriting and, most notably, why he returned. He talked about a dedicated fan, Freddy Wexler, who actually convinced him to re-enter the creative realm. I think this is pretty cool and shows that fan-artist relationships sometimes bring positive things. I think in general if you think about the relationships that artists and fans have, they are like two lanes on the highway going in opposite directions. It is like the artist has one parasocial relationship going one way with the fans, and the fans have their own parasocial relationship going the other way with the artist. I am not saying this is all bad though. Like most things, it carries with it both bad and good aspects.
Anyway, we are very happy to see that Billy Joel got convinced to return to songwriting. Because he has such an eternal musical soul. His voice also is really kept quality if not gotten even better. Joel expressed that songwriting had become burdensome for him and so he took a break to rediscover the joy in it. I think Billy used to have some problems with listening to his own recorded voice, which is a very common problem. But after this break, he did realize that he didn’t dislike it at all. He was probably just fatigued from hearing it all the time. So what can we learn from this? Well, first off, Billy Joel has a new banger song out. Secondly, if you are trying to learn to sing and find yourself thinking your voice sounds dumb or bad, just keep going with your learning. The worst thing you can do is to give up. But if you truly don’t enjoy the singing, then maybe it was just not for you.
Very rare is it to see an artist take such a long break and come back with a really good track. 'Turn The Lights Back On' is Joel’s first solo release in 17 years. The track was co-written with Wexler, Wayne Hector, and Arthur Bacon. Okay, so it turns out Wexler was more than a big fan, he was also a skilled songwriter. The theme of the song is relationships and trying to mend things that have been broken. I highly encourage you to give this song a listen and if you are a dedicated Billy Joel fan also to compare it to his previous releases to see if it holds up.
