Billy Joel doesn’t plan to work on a new album as he thinks it isn’t relevant anymore.
The singer recently sat down with Variety for an interview and had a quick answer for whether a new album is coming:
“Nope!”
When he released a new song named ‘Turn the Lights Back On’ in February, the rocker’s fans were hopeful about a new record but Joel won’t make it:
“Who makes albums anymore anyway? I think the only person making new albums these days is Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo. I don’t know other people who make albums. I don’t know what the marketing of that is like now.”
Joel Finds Writing Songs Torturous
Joel dislikes writing, describing it as torture. In a conversation with WBLM-FM after releasing his new track, the musician said the following about his songwriting process:
“I had not wanted to do it. Because it was all my life. When I was writing songs. I was doing this by myself. And it’s a very lonely job. And the job started to become torment. If it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, I would tear myself to shreds.”
Even though Joel didn’t want to make new songs, his friends and colleagues kept trying to convince him to go back to the studio:
“I was really resistant to the idea of going back in and recording again. Various people have attempted to convince me.”
He added:
“Rick Rubin has made efforts, and Clive Davis has tried to encourage me to do it. Even Elton John would suggest, ‘Why not create some more new albums?’ And I’d reply, ‘Why not produce fewer new albums?’ You know, just to be contrary.”
Joel also shared in an interview at the Grammy Awards that a fan convinced him to return to the studio after nearly 30 years to record a new song, ‘Turn the Lights Back On.’ Joel explained that he initially met the fan, Freddy Wexler, who eventually became a friend and persuaded him to work on the song over time.