AI Music Video Shows Billy Joel As His Younger Self Over The Years

Billy Joel released the music video for his new single, “Turn The Lights Back On,” on February 16, taking fans back in time to his youthful years using AI. The clip featured the Grammy-winning singer at different decades in his life, starting with the ‘70s.

Joel first sat at the piano— true to his nickname (The Piano Man), with a lit cigarette on top, wearing a brown suit and tie with his signature distressed hair. He then changed to ‘80s Joel with a black leather jacket, and his tresses were still quite the usual. ‘90s Joel looks more snazzy in sunglasses and he continues to play the instrument.

Billy Joel’s AI music video is making us all nostalgic

Modern-day Joel takes the lead to conclude the song as his younger versions join in with resurfaced clips of each of them in the background as the music fades out. “Turn The Lights Back On” can be regarded as Joel’s comeback song since his last solo single, “All My Life” in 2007. He went through a difficult phase where a piano looked like a “big black beast with 88 teeth that want to bite my fingers off,” and he could hardly create new music.

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Joel called his songwriting hiatus “the most frustrating feeling in the world.” However, he never stopped performing; the father of three announced the end of his decade-long residency at New York’s Madison Square Garden in July. “You have to have the desire to write songs…I stopped writing lyrics because I got tired of that particular format,” he explained to Howard Stern in 2021. “The worst thing about songwriting is the struggle. I love having written. I hate writing.”

‘Turn The Lights Back On’

Joel released his new single on February 1 alongside limited-edition 7-inch vinyl. The body of work, which he co-wrote with Arthur Bacon, Wayne Hector, and producer Freddy Wexler, is described on his website as “a classic Billy Joel-style tune, embodying the hallmarks of his signature sound and ushering in the next chapter of his story.”

Fans have been expectant since last December when Joel teased the song’s release during a live performance, saying, “We’ve got a little something we’re working on that you might hear sometime.” He also did the track at the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony at the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles, and his refreshing rendition blew the audience away. “What a poignant song. An apology to his muse. New and old at one time. I’ve missed his voice/music/words,” one of the many comments on social media read.