Billy Joel revealed why he took  17-year gap in music career, after he released the song  Turn the Lights Back On on February 1, 2024.

During an interview at the Audacy Check-In podcast, Joel confessed to being self-critical when making songs and credited Freddy Wexler, his songwriting partner for newly released track for reigniting his interest in the music scene.

He said, "I have this high bar that I set for myself. If I don't reach that bar, I beat myself up and I punch myself and I hate myself."

The 74-year-old  singer continued, "So I stopped doing music because I got tired of feeling like that."

Joel also mentioned that making songs by yourself can be "lonely", and that's not how he wants the music-making process to be.

He told, "The whole point of why I got into music in the first place  same reason Wexler did , it was fun."

Joel also said, "Music is fun. Rock N’ Roll was fun, It was all about having fun and I kind of lost that, and I turned the lights off because it wasn't fun anymore."

"It was all about having fun  and I kind of lost that, and I turned the lights off because it wasn't fun anymore," he added.

Also Read: Billy Joel makes huge comeback with 'Turn the Lights Back On'

The Piano Man vocalist also mentioned that everything turned around when he unexpectedly met Wexler.

Joel said that listening to the 37-year-old songwriter's music sparked his love for writing songs again, and this rediscovery was the inspiration behind naming their new song, Turn the Lights Back On.

Talking about the tune of his new song, Joel said, "The melody, the chords, the chord progression, even the time signature was something that struck me immediately, and that’s how I relate to music."

"This particular lyric in this song, I’ve had these thoughts, I could have written these lyrics verbatim," the pianist told while mentioning that writing the lyrics felt easy once he listened to the melody.

He went on to say, "I’ve chewed on these words and I’ve thought of these words, and I’ve said these words before. It was all kind of falling into place and who am I to fight that."

Joel announced the release of the song Turn the Lights Back On  in an Instagram post on Friday.

 The singer is also scheduled to debut the song live at the 2024 Grammy awards.