A couple of months back, Jack Antonoff, a celebrated music producer, started streaming a live footage from a church in the heart of Ireland on his laptop. Antonoff reveals he was home alone, observing the funeral of Shane MacGowan online. The soft-spoken Antonoff is the co-creator of massive hits like Taylor Swift’s Cruel Summer, Lorde’s Solar Power and Lana Del Rey’s Grammy-winning A&W.
In an enthusiastic discussion about MacGowan and Nick Cave, Antonoff shares how Cave paid tribute to the late MacGowan by performing Rainy Night in Soho at Nenagh’s Mary of the Rosary Church. Having a deep appreciation for both Cave’s and MacGowan’s music, Antonoff admits that watching this moment on his laptop was one of the key musical experiences of his life.
Despite his evident designing style contrasted to MacGowan’s raw and unpredictable music, Antonoff genuinely admired MacGowan. This is evident when his voice chokes up as he talks about the Pogues singer’s demise last November when he was just 65. “I believed he was immortal. At 25, Shane MacGowan appeared to be in ill health, yet I believed he’d somehow stay alive indefinitely. I assumed he had an inner resilience.”
Following MacGowan’s funeral ceremony, Antonoff found himself delving into a YouTube channel where he came across a 1995 dual interview with MacGowan and Sinéad O’Connor on the Pat Kenny’s Kenny Live show. Impressed by MacGowan’s rough appearance and voice, yet tender melodies and vulnerable lyrics, Antonoff has held him in high regard as the perfect artist. Antonoff recalls, “He has represented the dual aspects of human experience in not just his songs, but his life as well. Although we never met, I spent countless hours simply looking at his photographs.”
MacGowan’s journey in the music world involves early triumphs followed by a steady descent into obscurity, whereas Antonoff’s path is quite the contrary. Now at 39, he is only beginning to truly flourish. Evidence of this can be seen in his new album from Bleachers, his most finely tuned solo piece, overflowing with the relatability, tenderness, and melodic qualities that characterise his collaborations with Swift and Del Rey.
To truly grasp Bleachers, one needs to see the songs as an extension of Antonoff himself: understated, yet vibrant; confident, sometimes slightly quirky and audacious. They also depict his upbringing. Antonoff was raised in New Milford, New Jersey, and his latest album is deeply influenced by the melodies of his homeland. Echoes can be found of the local influential indie pop bands, The Feelies and Yo La Tengo; however, it also boasts some flamboyance and spirit. His recent track, Modern Girl, is equipped with saxophone sounds, reminiscent of another renowned New Jersey native, his friend, Bruce Springsteen.
Since embarking on his music writing and touring journey, Antonoff comments that he always approached songs with a sense of finality, as if they marked the end of the world. This, he says, is his only method. Having encountered considerable sadness and trauma, his early records with Bleachers are tinged with these experiences. At 18, he lost his younger sister, Sarah, to brain cancer, and later, a cousin in the Iraq war. These tragic occurrences led him to battle depression and anxiety, emotions that are palpable in his Bleachers music.
However, his latest album is a shift in gears; he’s in a healthier state of mind, following his marriage to actress Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell, who starred as a follower of Charles Manson in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While the new record still has intense moments, it is not, contrary to some early reviews, Antonoff’s feel-good album.
Jack Antonoff humoured with friends about his envy for those who could simply write songs and perform shows without feeling the same level of intensity. Antonoff has always written and toured with an underlying sense of urgency, as if every song could be his last. This mindset, while exhaustive, is part of his unwavering commitment to his craft.
Jack Antonoff, renowned for his lively personality, seems to be on a whirlwind journey with his ever-expanding music endeavours. His surprise involvement with Bleachers despite his busy schedule raises eyebrows. Antonoff, in the last three years, has had a number of noteworthy collaborations; including Anti-Hero with Swift, a reinterpretation of 1989 in Taylor’s Version, and A&W with Lorde. Further projects include a partnership with Clairo and The 1975, an upcoming album with Taylor Swift titled The Tortured Poets Department, and a country album Lasso with Del Rey.
What attracts these high-profile stars to Antonoff? Undeniably his talent plays a tremendous role. Coupled with his laid-back nature, he brings a much-needed contrast to the typically domineering or slyly manipulative image of the music producer.
In 2017, Taylor Swift lauded Antonoff as a joy to work with. Their bond extends beyond business, even to the point of Swift attending Antonoff’s marriage to Qualley in New Jersey. Swift’s presence brought in a slew of her fans which resulted in a temporary closure of a nearby street.
Antonoff and Swift’s partnership serves as a prime example of unique musical synergy. In Swift’s 2020 documentary Miss Americana, viewers witness the raw creative process behind the song Getaway Car from Reputation, where a mere idea evolves into a fully-fleshed out song. Their collaboration also resulted in Cruel Summer, co-written with Annie Clark from St Vincent, which unexpectedly became a hit in 2023, four years after its initial release.
Antonoff on the unexpected revival of Cruel Summer says that this experience emphasises the fact that unique and unexpected things occur when you create something with passion and love. Whether it’s the success of Cruel Summer, A&W clinching the song of the year at the Grammys or the extraordinary boom of the Bleachers’ tours, the message is clear: stay genuine, stick to your roots, and do what you love.
Describing his production process, you could assume that Antonoff is either fanatically driven or remarkably efficient. He simplifies his success formula: follow your instincts every day. “If I cooperate excessively with someone, I tend to get restless as I enjoy having control over my time,” he mentions. His work is predominantly dependent on what he feels like doing. Often it requires waiting for the call. Sometimes it’s about creating a Bleachers’s album, other times he feels drawn to different projects. He doesn’t structure his day much apart from being in the studio, and his workflow takes shape from there.
Bound to every significant achievement is the unavoidable rejection. The theory by a famous philosopher, “critics are bound to criticize” holds good here. Antonoff has had his encounters with nit-picks and sardonic comments both on social media and in an article in the New York magazine, the Drift – identified as “the intellectual resurgence of the left”. This labelled him as pop music’s most dull prophet. The magazine asserted that Antonoff’s production is immediately recognizable yet irritatingly anonymous. “It’s difficult to effectively capture vapour on camera.”
The one thing Antonoff definitely is, is self-conscious. He comprehends the flow of things – the transition from fame to resentment.
“Sometimes people are so swamped with opinions that they overlook the fact that someone out there actually knows the real truth,” Jack Antonoff noted, adding that, despite this, people’s reactions to his music varies precisely how he intended – the music is meant to stir contrasting emotions. Antonoff admits to being bemused by people’s constant questioning of how he crafts his records, and their total disbelief in his authentic contributions. He’s not coy about his process; he simply walks into a room and lets the music happen.
Antonoff’s tone exudes a twinge of exasperation.
[ Jack Antonoff on Irish music: ‘It has had a tremendous impact on me – embodying both joy and sorrow’ ]
“People constantly trying to figure out my creative process is humorous to me, especially considering I myself can’t fully comprehend it. Their recurring question is, ‘How do you accomplish all of this?’ and my answer remains the same – I don’t know. I proceed to the studio or a room, compose or produce songs, and present the finished work. Still, many persist with, ‘Okay, but how?’ And my answer remains, ‘I don’t know.'” Antonoff commented, going on to attribute this to the type of society we live in where everyone can elucidate on every aspect of their occupation. However, he maintains that songwriting and producing are somewhat enigmatic crafts. It’s about capturing ‘magic,’ he explains.
Despite not having sold millions yet as Bleachers, Antonoff has contributed to several of the biggest hits of the past decade.
When questioned about the shift in the music industry – where the top 1% earn 90% of streaming revenue and make millions from touring, leaving other struggling artists in the dust, he found the topic convoluted. Antonoff wondered if it was any different to two decades ago when he first launched his music career with his band Steel Train, and later joined the band Fun, co-writing their hit song, ‘We Are Young’.
Navigating the music industry has been a challenging journey, according to my personal encounters. Notably, criticisms, often inevitable, can be disheartening. However, my numerous years in different facets of the music business have culminated to a perspective that changes are far less frequent than often opined. From time to time, I observe the industry to be caught up in the same old rigmarole. Penetrating the music scene is a tough task asking for relentless hustle until the golden opportunity knocks. Strikingly, the conversations describing today’s music world mirror the music scene as I experienced growing up. Consequently, the topic entails much contemplation on my part. I introspect about my journey through this industry, my rapport with my friends, their voyage. It’s a baffling sector compelling one to push boundaries for acknowledgement.
Bleachers’ latest album launch coincides with a crucial milestone for Antonoff. It’s been a decade since Bleachers was founded; it also marks ten years of 1989, Antonoff’s inaugural venture with Swift. Antonoff was also the co-author of “Out of the Woods” and a producer of two other tracks featured on the LP. This marked the inception of his much-acclaimed partnership with Swift and his steady progress towards the pinnacle of the music business.
Antonoff fondly states, “Simultaneously, all this was brewing.” He considers this period, during which he was launching Bleachers and working on 1989, as a significant epoch in his life. He continues, “This marked the inception of vital facets. I sensed it through the music and as it began to release, I could feel that the audience is connecting with what I was expressing.”