Watch: Billy Joel and Olivia Rodrigo Duet on “Uptown Girl” & “deja vu”

I’ll bet that she knows Billy Joel / ‘Cause you played her “Uptown Girl,” Olivia Rodrigo sings on her 2021 hit “deja vu.” The song likely introduced the Piano Man to many teens across America, as well as his 1983 track. It also seems the song caught Joel’s attention as he invited Rodrigo to play a few numbers at his Madison Square Garden show on August 24.

Before taking the stage midway through the set, Joel teased Rodrigo’s appearance by playing the opening trill to “deja vu.” “I’m going to bring up a young musician,” Joel said. “She’s a triple Grammy winner. She won the Billboard 2022 Woman of the Year award. She’s got the American Music Award. She’s got all kinds of awards. She’s very talented. I like her music, and so do my kids. She’s very talented. Please say hello to Olivia Rodrigo.”

The younger members of the crowd jumped up and down with delight while their parents took a while to catch on. “Thank you so much for inviting me, Billy. I’m such a huge fan. I couldn’t have written this next song without you, so thank you,” Rodrigo said as she walked on stage.

As she began to go through the song, the crowd rose to new heights when the aforementioned Billy Joel line came up. Joel himself started to beam as he played the piano part of the pop maven’s hit. After the track ended, Joel got up to join the young singer side by side and said they were going to do “a song that was referred to in the last song.”

The duo then traded verses on “Uptown Girl.” The duet seemed almost inevitable given the scale of which Rodrigo’s track took off and it seemed to be a welcomed sight by all in attendance at MSG. “Thank you, Billy,” she said as they hugged at the end. “I love you.”

Check out the performances below.

Elsewhere at the concert, Joel gave a career-spanning performance with hits that veered between “A Matter of Trust,” “Only The Good Die Young,” and “My Life.” The duet with Rodrigo is likely only going to bolster his standing with the Gen Z audience following his 1978 deep-cut “Zanzibar” becoming a TikTok trend over the past year. “I don’t even know what TikTok is,” he told a crowd last year. “But this is a thing.”

The show was part of Joel’s monthly MSG residency. He has performed for 82 months and counting since starting back in 2014, and it has long become one of rock’s most celebrated shows. Find tickets HERE.

Billy Joel (Photo: Sony Music Entertainment)