Billy Joel gets candid about what he does — and doesn’t like — about being an artist ahead of the 2024 Grammys.
The “Piano Man” singer, 74, admitted he’s not a fan of songwriting when Amanda Kloots and Alina Vission quizzed him on the GRAMMY Live! from the show Red Carpet. He said his songwriting routine can be grueling, but he’s always proud of the finished product.
“I’m going to go into my cave and become a caveman,” Joel said. “It’s not a fun process for me — it’s very self-centered, very lonely. And sometimes it’s torture.”
He added: “But afterwards I love what I wrote.”
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In an interview earlier this week, Joel admitted that loneliness was one of the reasons it took him 17 years to write new music.
He credited Freddy Wexler, his songwriting partner on the new original song “Turn the Lights Back On,” as the person who got the ball rolling and got him back on the music scene.
“I have this high bar that I set for myself. If I don’t reach that bar, I beat myself up and beat myself up and hate myself. So I stopped working [music] because I got tired of feeling that way,” Joel admitted on the Audacy Check-In podcast.
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On the Grammys red carpet, Joel revealed another unfortunate consequence of being a singer-songwriter: touring. Joel said that while he enjoys performing, it “can be a bit tiring”.
Reflecting on his decades-long career, the legend said: “I always wanted to be a teacher and I went around the country teaching songwriting at colleges.”
Reflecting on his decades-long career, the legend said: “I always wanted to be a teacher and I went around the country teaching songwriting at colleges.”
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His advice to rising stars is to draw from their own experiences and emotions to truly connect with their music.
“You have to go through things to write about things. Write what you know.”
Joel added that he is most excited to see Miley Cyrus perform, along with Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish.
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