Billy Joel’s first new pop song in nearly two decades was sparked by someone miles from the record business: a Long Island doctor.
Joel, 74, has long made it known that he isn’t interested in making more albums. He released 12 studio LPs between 1971 and 1993 — most platinum several times over — and retired from the format, though he never stopped tinkering with classical music, or playing live.
But new songs? “I have this fear of writing something that’s not good,” he said in an interview last month at his estate in Oyster Bay, N.Y. “I have a very high bar for myself. And the work to get there is intimidating. I don’t want to go through it anymore.”
Joel’s influence as a songwriter has endured, drawing in new generations. (“He is everything,” Olivia Rodrigo, 20, who referenced him in her song “Deja Vu,” said last summer.) Over the years, the list of people who’d tried to cajole him back into writing and recording grew legion: Clive Davis. Rick Rubin. Elton John. Yet when Joel’s family doctor urged him to meet “a kid” interested in discussing music near his place out east in Sag Harbor, he agreed to a lunch.
The eager man across the table two years ago was Freddy Wexler, now 37, a Los Angeles-based songwriter and producer who grew up in New York and sure knew a lot about Billy Joel. He’d been trying to track down his idol via industry channels with little luck, but his wife — secretly devoted to keeping this dream alive — found an improbable connection.
Joel ordered clams on the half-shell and a BLT to go, Wexler recalled, so he knew he had to move fast: “I said, I don’t believe that you can’t write songs anymore or that you won’t write songs anymore. And he said something like, ‘OK, believe whatever you want.’”
Can you please explain how voting for the Grammys works?
The Grammys are voted on by more than 11,000 music professionals — performers, songwriters, producers and others with credits on recordings — who are members of the Recording Academy. The process involves members first scanning through huge lists of submissions to vote for nominees, then, after the final ballot is set, for the winners. In the past, anonymous committees had the power to overrule members’ selections of nominees; after some controversy those were largely disbanded, though the academy still has the power to reassign submissions if necessary.
What is the difference between record, song and album of the year?
The top three Grammy prizes can be a bit confusing. Album of the year is for a complete body of work (a full LP of music); song of the year is a songwriter’s prize, awarded to the person (or people) who wrote the music and lyrics to a single song; record of the year is for the performance and recording of a song, and goes to the artist and producers who made it.
Why did some winners bring their handbags onstage to accept their Grammys?
Given the lack of pockets in Grammy outfits, it may be that a bag is the best place to secrete an acceptance speech, and since there isn’t a lot of time between when a winner’s name is called and when the music plays them off, perhaps — at least in the case of Miley Cyrus — it was simply a question of efficiency. A handbag is also often part of a total look, and since some of the artists are being dressed by brands, perhaps it is part of the deal.
The academy aired the best rap album award during the daytime ceremony. Isn’t this weird considering the commercial prominence of rap?
The Grammys have a complicated relationship with rap. Several nominees boycotted the first Grammy ceremony with a rap category in 1989 because the award wasn’t televised. Typically, the show gives out all but around nine of its 90-something trophies at a preshow. Last year, the show presented an extravaganza to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. The lack of rap onstage this year was certainly noticed: Drake, who has stepped away from the Awards, posted a pointed Instagram story, and Jay-Z took the Grammys to task when he accepted a global impact award.
Did the Grammys get a new producer/director? I can’t remember them ever hosting it in a stadium — it feels like a real concert!
Crypto.com Arena opened in 1999 as the Staples Center, and it was designed with award shows, among other things, very much in mind. Since 2000, nearly all the Grammy ceremonies have taken place there. Hamish Hamilton, who directed this year, has worked on previous Grammys as well as other award shows and Super Bowl halftime shows. There was a major change in 2017, when the longtime Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich was replaced by Ben Winston, who is now one of the executive producers.
What did Joni Mitchell get a Grammy for?
Joni Mitchell won her 10th Grammy on Sunday: best folk album for “Joni Mitchell at Newport,” a live album recorded in 2022. Mitchell’s Grammy history goes back to 1970, when she won best folk performance for “Clouds.” She also made her first-ever Grammy performance this year, singing her classic “Both Sides Now.” It was an especially emotional moment because nine years ago Mitchell had an aneurysm that initially left her unable to speak; she has gradually recovered and returned to performing.
