Jack Antonoff

• 1. Introduction

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  Jack Antonoff is an American musician from New Jersey who once heard the same dismissal again and again. He later put it in his own words. "Taylor's the first person who let me produce a song. Before Taylor, everyone said: 'You're not a producer'. It took Taylor Swift to say: 'I like the way this sounds.'" The remark is blunt, and it hides a long run of other jobs. He has been a teenage punk singer, a guitarist and drummer in a pop rock band, and the frontman of a group with his own name on the marquee. How does someone with so many roles end up shaping records for so many different artists? What did he learn in small rooms, long before anyone trusted him with a stranger's song? And what thread from his own life keeps surfacing in the music he makes?

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• 2. Minivan Miles

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  Jack Michael Antonoff was born on the 31st of March 1984 in Bergenfield, New Jersey. He was the second of three children of Shira and Rick Antonoff. His older sister, Rachel, grew up to become a fashion designer. The family was Jewish, and Jack went to the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County for elementary school. He grew up in New Milford and Woodcliff Lake. Later he and Rachel commuted into Manhattan to attend the Professional Children's School.

  His younger sister, Sarah, died of brain cancer at the age of 14, when Jack was a high school senior. He has said the loss shaped everything that followed: "my whole career has been revisiting that through a different lens."

  In November 1998, during his sophomore year, he and several friends from elementary school formed a punk rock band called Outline. A friend's label, Lifetime Records, released their self-titled EP in January 2000. Another childhood friend, Heath Miller of Excess dB Entertainment, recorded it. Antonoff sang at first, but early in 2000 Eddie Wright took over on vocals. With Wright they recorded six songs, which came out that summer as 6 Song Demo. The album A Boy Can Dream followed in July 2001 on Triple Crown Records.

  When Antonoff was 15, he and an Outline bandmate used a DIY guide to book shows across several states, including Florida and Texas. They borrowed his parents' minivan for the trip. The oldest member of the band did the driving, because he was 18. They played venues such as anarchist bookstores. Looking back in 2014, Antonoff said that half the time no one showed up, yet "that's when I fell in love with touring." Outline lasted until 2002, but the love of touring he found in those rooms stayed with him.

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• 3. Club Krome Years

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  Club Krome in South Amboy, New Jersey, hosted the first show by Steel Train on the 15th of September 2001. Antonoff and his friend Scott Irby-Ranniar had formed the band that summer. Allister and The Early November shared the bill, and both were about to sign to Drive-Thru Records. Antonoff sang lead, and Matthias Gruber played drums. Two friends from a band called Random Task, Evan Winiker and Matthew Goldman, were persuaded to drop out of college and join. Random Task was managed by Heath Miller, who also promoted shows at Club Krome. Steel Train signed with Drive-Thru and built a following on the jamband festival circuit. Antonoff has said he carried that grassroots mentality into later projects.

  On the 11th of June 2003, Club Krome brought Antonoff together with two musicians he would hear from again. Nate Ruess had fronted the Format, and Andrew Dost had played in Anathallo. Their bands had all toured together. In 2008 Ruess invited Antonoff to join the two of them in a new group, which became Fun. Their debut album, Aim and Ignite, arrived in 2009.

  The second album, Some Nights, came out in 2012 and produced the band's first number-one single, "We Are Young." Antonoff wrote it with Ruess, Dost, and a collaborator named Jeff Bhasker. Fun. took home the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Song of the Year.

  In September 2013 the band played alongside Queen, their musical heroes, at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. During rehearsal Antonoff got to play Brian May's guitar, which he called the "most surreal experience ever." That December Fun. gave away a free six-song live EP titled Before Shane Went to Bangkok: Fun. Live in the USA.

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• 4. Bleachers

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  Hotel rooms on a Fun. world tour were where most of the first Bleachers songs took shape, written on Antonoff's laptop. He announced the solo project in February 2014. By his own account in June of that year, he had been considering it for around 10 years. The name came from the "disconnected, darker side" of suburban youth and from John Hughes movies, which he tied to "a time when big songs were great songs."

  The first single, "I Wanna Get Better," came out on the 18th of February. The Huffington Post called it the "catchiest song of 2014," and Time declared that "Bleachers is more fun than Fun." Speaking to Rolling Stone, Antonoff said he wanted to bridge the gap between Disclosure and Arcade Fire with something "both streamlined and organic." He described the record as a search for a world where you can be kind to yourself. The song sounds joyous, he added, but it is "very desperate" and, like much of the album, concerns loss.

  He worked with the producers John Hill and Vince Clarke, chasing what he called "massive, beautiful pop songs." The album, Strange Desire, was released in July 2014. In the same week "I Wanna Get Better" reached number one on the U.S. Alternative charts. Rolling Stone later ranked it number 18 among the 50 best songs of 2014, calling it "therapy rock" that is "as fun as it is cathartic."

  The second album, Gone Now, followed on the 2nd of June 2017, led by "Don't Take the Money," which peaked at number 2 on Alternative Radio. Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night arrived on the 30th of July 2021. A self-titled fourth album came out on the 8th of March 2024, after four singles: "Modern Girl," "Alma Mater," "Tiny Moves," and "Me Before You." A fifth record, Everyone for Ten Minutes, is listed for 2026.

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• 5. The Swift Partnership

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  A snare drum sound from a Fine Young Cannibals song started the creative bond between Antonoff and Taylor Swift. In 2013 the two shared a love of that sound and traded ideas by email. Then they wrote "Sweeter than Fiction" in Antonoff's New York City apartment, for the film One Chance.

  October 2014 brought 1989, Swift's fifth studio album, which became the biggest-selling album in the U.S. that year. Swift and Antonoff wrote and produced three songs on it: "Out of the Woods," "I Wish You Would," and the bonus track "You Are in Love." On the deluxe version, Swift explains in a voice memo that "I Wish You Would" began as a guitar track Antonoff recorded on his smartphone. After she heard it, she asked to develop the idea further. The album won Antonoff Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album in 2016.

  On the 25th of August 2017, the pair released the number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do." Antonoff was a key contributor to Reputation. He and Swift also wrote and produced five more songs there: "Getaway Car," "Dress," "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things," "Call It What You Want," and "New Year's Day." For 2019's Lover they wrote eight songs and produced eleven tracks. Those included "The Archer," the title track, and the number-one single "Cruel Summer."

  In 2020 Folklore brought in Aaron Dessner as another writer and producer alongside Swift and Antonoff. Antonoff co-produced six songs and co-wrote four, including the third single, "Betty." The "sister album," Evermore, carried his co-writing on "Gold Rush" and "Ivy," and his co-production on "Gold Rush." Both albums earned Album of the Year nominations, and Folklore won.

  Swift's re-recorded albums gave him another role. In 2021 he produced four tracks on Fearless (Taylor's Version): "Mr. Perfectly Fine," "That's When," "Don't You," and "Bye Bye Baby." On Red (Taylor's Version) he produced "Babe," "Forever Winter," and the number-one "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)." Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in 2023 added "I Can See You," "Castles Crumbling," and "Timeless." Later that year he produced every vault track for 1989 (Taylor's Version), plus the songs he and Swift had originally made.

  Midnights, in 2022, was co-produced by Antonoff from start to finish on its standard edition. He co-wrote eleven of its thirteen standard tracks, including the number-one "Anti-Hero" and "Bejeweled," whose music video he appeared in. On the Til Dawn Edition he co-wrote six songs and co-produced seven, and he co-wrote and co-produced "You're Losing Me." The album sold more than any other in the U.S. that year, and it earned him Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album in 2024.

  The Tortured Poets Department followed in 2024. Antonoff co-wrote ten songs and co-produced sixteen across its standard and double editions, including the number-one single "Fortnight." The album broke numerous consumption records and became the longest-leading chart topper of Swift's career. Publications argued it made her the biggest pop star of this century by many metrics. On the 1st of June 2026, Swift announced "I Knew It, I Knew You," an original song for the upcoming Toy Story 5. It is their first collaboration since that record.

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• 6. Other Voices

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  Producer of the Year went to Antonoff three times in a row, from 2022 to 2024, and he has won thirteen Grammy Awards in all. Critics credit him with influencing the pop trends of the 2010s and 2020s. Beyond the Swift catalogue, the chart-toppers he helped build came from artists with very different sounds.

  He co-wrote and produced Lorde's Melodrama, released in June 2017. USA Today called it "the best pop album of 2017 so far." Rolling Stone singled out his production for using "empty space to spectacular effect, as the arrangements veer from stark clarity to delirium." He appeared in the video for the lead single, "Green Light," and performed "Liability" with Lorde on Saturday Night Live. The album earned a nomination for the 2018 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. From 2018 until 2021 he co-wrote, produced, and performed on her third album, Solar Power. He did not take part in her 2025 album, Virgin. Lorde told Rolling Stone she is "very vibes-based" and "just has to trust when my intuition says to keep moving."

  Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell! was released on the 30th of August 2019, with Antonoff as co-producer and a co-writer on most songs. They included the singles "Mariners Apartment Complex" and "Venice Bitch." NME's Rhian Daly noted that its "bohemian folk" sound departed from his "brand of crystalline euphoria." The album was nominated for Album of the Year and named NME Album of the Year in 2020. He also produced her 2021 album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club. On her 2023 album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, the duet "Margaret" was written by Del Rey about Antonoff's wife. That year he also co-produced Lost at Sea, the debut album from Del Rey's father, Rob Grant.

  His pop work reached beyond those partnerships. He co-wrote "Brave" with Sara Bareilles after Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara introduced them. Bareilles told Billboard that they met for breakfast and wrote the song that first day. It was about a friend's struggle to speak openly about his sexuality. Released on the 23rd of April 2013, it had sold 160,000 digital copies by the end of June and peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100.

  In 2017 he contributed to Pink's Beautiful Trauma and produced St. Vincent's Masseduction. In 2022 he produced eight tracks on Florence and the Machine's Dance Fever, including "King" and "Free." His work in 2024 and 2025 reached the top of the charts. He co-wrote and produced five tracks on Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet, including her first number-one single, "Please Please Please." He also co-wrote and co-produced most of her next album, Man's Best Friend, with Carpenter and John Ryan. For Kendrick Lamar's GNX he co-wrote and produced 11 of 12 tracks, including the number-one singles "Squabble Up" and "Luther."

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• 7. Screens and Side Projects

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  Zayn joined Swift on "I Don't Wanna Live Forever," which Swift, Antonoff, and Sam Dew wrote in 2016 for the film Fifty Shades Darker. Antonoff produced it. That song and "Sweeter than Fiction" each earned a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

  In 2018 he produced the soundtrack for the 20th Century Fox film Love, Simon, and Bleachers contributed four songs. The film was the first major studio picture to focus on a gay teenager. Antonoff called it "pivotal, a major step for a new generation" and said he was "honored" that the "genius" director Greg Berlanti asked him to take part. He later curated the soundtrack for Minions: The Rise of Gru in 2022. In 2024 he produced the music for the Apple TV+ series The New Look.

  He also stepped in front of cameras. In 2015 he created a Google Play docuseries called Thank You and Sorry, which mixed scripted scenes with footage from Bleachers shows. It ran as six 15-minute episodes, with cameos from Lena Dunham, Rosie Perez, Olivia Wilde, Colin Quinn, and Jason Mantzoukas. That year he also played a character named Baby Goya in the comedy-drama Hello, My Name Is Doris. In 2021 he appeared in the documentary The Sparks Brothers to talk about his admiration for the band Sparks.

  On the 26th of June 2019, he previewed another group, Red Hearse, with Sam Dew and Sounwave. Two singles, "Red Hearse" and "Honey," teased the project. On the 22nd of July the group made its television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing "Half Love." Their self-titled album arrived on the 16th of August 2019 through RCA Records.

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• 8. Life Off Stage

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  Scarlett Johansson, a classmate, dated Antonoff from 2001 to 2002. Near the end of 2012 he moved out of the family home and lived with Rachel in New York City. After that he shared an apartment with Lena Dunham, whom he was dating. They separated in December 2017. As of December 2019 he still lived in that apartment, where he had a home studio. In 2023 he married the actress Margaret Qualley, after dating for a couple of years.

  Antonoff has spoken publicly about depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hearing about others' battles with depression, he said, made him feel "not better, but not alone" and "way less scared." In June 2014 he said he was seeing both a therapist and a psychopharmacologist and taking anti-anxiety medication. He also has germophobia, which grew worse after a bout of pneumonia in 2011, while Fun. was recording a studio album.

  Around 2014 he founded The Ally Coalition with his sister Rachel. It hosts an annual benefit concert called The Talent Show, which has raised more than $2 million to support LGBT issues.

  The Shadow of the City festival began in 2015 and raises money for The Ally Coalition. Antonoff told Rolling Stone that he grew up in New Jersey and lived there for 28 years: "New Jersey is part of who I am." In an interview in the book New Jersey Fan Club, he said he wants his audience to see the state as it really is. The first festival took place on the 19th of September 2015 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. Bleachers headlined, with Charli XCX, Vic Mensa, the Front Bottoms, MisterWives, Cults, How to Dress Well, and Robert Delong. Later editions featured Carly Rae Jepsen, The 1975, Khalid, Hayley Kiyoko, Julien Baker, and Japanese Breakfast, among others.

  In 2023 the festival's name moved onto a record label. Antonoff started Shadow of the City with Jamie Oborne as an imprint of her label, Dirty Hit.

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