Billy Joel is AI-aged in the new music video for his first single in 17 years, Turn The Lights Back On, released on Friday.
In the clip, the 74-year-old balladeer, who teased the song’s release earlier this year, cycled through different stages of his life and career as he performed the song in an ornate concert hall.
The Piano Man singer began the video by turning a page with the lyrics to his song Famous Last Words, which was originally released in 1993 and served as a marker of his lengthy departure from his recording career.
Joel then plays the song’s opening chords on a Steinway & Sons piano before the camera pans up, and when it reaches the singer again, he is seen at a much younger age during the early stages of his career.
The artist is then digitally aged for a few more years before belting out the song’s first chorus, after which he was further aged to resemble his 1980s image for the song’s second verse.
Billy Joel was de-aged by AI in the new music video for his first single in 17 years, Turn The Lights Back On, released Friday
In the clip, the 74-year-old balladeer, who teased the song’s release earlier this year, cycled through different stages of his life and career as he performed the song in an ornate concert hall.
The Piano Man singer began the video by turning a page with the lyrics to his song Famous Last Words, which was originally released in 1993 and served as a marker of his lengthy departure from his recording career.
The Grammy Award-winning songwriter aged even further while performing the song’s piano solo, and the singer progressed toward his current age while singing the song’s final chorus.
Footage and home moves created over the length of Joel’s career and life were then shown as the song’s outro played.
The video ended with a shot of the handwritten lyrics of Turn The Lights Back On resting on the musician’s piano.
Produced by Freddy Wexler and co-written by Joel, Wexler, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector, Turn The Lights Back On was originally released on February 1 for the hitmaker’s fans.
The singer’s most recently released single as a solo artist prior to the debut of Turn The Lights Back On was All My Life, which debuted in 2007.
The hitmaker also wrote a song titled Christmas In Fallujah, which was performed by Cass Dillon and released that year.
The artist announced last January that he would be returning to the recording industry, and Turn The Lights Back On subsequently debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The song also peaked at number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release.
Joel then plays the song’s opening chords on a Steinway & Sons piano before the camera pans up, and when it reaches the singer again, he is seen at a much younger age during the early stages of his career.
The artist is then digitally aged for a few more years before belting out the song’s first chorus, after which he was further aged to resemble his 1980s image for the song’s second verse.
The Grammy Award-winning songwriter aged even further while performing the song’s piano solo, and the singer progressed toward his current age while singing the song’s final chorus.
Footage and home moves created over the length of Joel’s career and life were then shown as the song’s outro played.
Produced by Freddy Wexler and co-written by Joel, Wexler, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector, Turn The Lights Back On was originally released on February 1 for the hitmaker’s fans.
Turn The Lights Back On debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart
The song also peaked at number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release
Joel performed the song at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony, which took place earlier this month, and the performance marked the first time he has sang at the awards show since 2002.
The singer talked about the song’s writing process during an interview for the Grammy Live! From The Red Carpet show, where he recalled losing interest in songwriting over the years.
He stated via People: ‘The whole point of doing what I do was because it was so much fun to do when I first started. I kind of lost that after a while.’
The artist went on to note that working on his new song with Wexler “made me find joy in it again.”
