It seems many recent albums have missed Billy Joel’s radar.
In a new interview with Variety, the Grammy-winning icon revealed he won’t be making a new album anytime soon and wondered if anyone besides Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo still make full-length bodies of work.
“Who makes albums anymore anyway?” asked Joel, 75. “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.”
Olivia Rodrigo and Billy Joel. KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES
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Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Rodrigo’s Sour have certainly garnered major fanfare since their respective releases in April 2024 and September 2023, respectively, but they’re nowhere near the only two artists releasing albums as of late.
Looking at this year’s Billboard 200 chart, new albums including 21 Savage’s American Dream, Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 1, Twice’s With You-th, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You as well as Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter have each reached the No. 1 slot with thousands of copies sold.
It’s possible that part of the reason Joel isn’t looking to release a new album — despite putting out his first single in 17 years, “Turn the Lights Back On,” in February — is because, as he told Variety, writing is “a form of torture” for him.
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“There’s this big black beast with 88 teeth that wants to bite my fingers off while I’m writing. I drive myself nuts. It’s just not as good as I want it to be,” said the “Uptown Girl” singer.
“It’s a great deal of torment, and I decided I don’t want to put myself through that anymore,” added Joel. “I used to have drinking problems and all kinds of self-hate when I was writing, because I set the bar so high. It’s not something I miss. I love making music.”
When it comes to offering advice to new artists, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member isn’t sure what he’d tell them — other than to “have good-looking parents,” he joked to Variety before getting genuine.
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“Do not listen to record industry people because they want you to create things that sell a lot,” Joel added. “A musician really wants to make the best music they can make. If you’re a real musician, that’s all about the music, not about record sales, charts and numbers.”
The “Vienna” musician continued: “There’s a lot of pressure to sell records, market your material. ‘Give us product, product, product.’ You’re not a product; you’re a musician. And there’s a ton of pressure about that, and younger people can really get hung up in it.”
