{"id":181319,"date":"2023-12-05T19:34:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T19:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=181319"},"modified":"2023-12-06T00:11:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T00:11:51","slug":"jack-antonoff-talks-taylor-swift-artificial-intelligence-and-the-fine-art-of-co-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/jack-antonoff-talks-taylor-swift-artificial-intelligence-and-the-fine-art-of-co-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Antonoff talks Taylor Swift, AI, his new management – and how to avoid deals with the devil"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World\u2019s Greatest Songwriters series celebrates the composers behind the globe\u2019s biggest hits. The last installment of 2023 features one of the most successful writers and producers of the modern age, Jack Antonoff – a key collaborator with, amongst others, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, St Vincent and, of course, Taylor Swift. World\u2019s Greatest Songwriters is supported by AMRA<\/a> \u2013 the global digital music collection society which strives to maximize value for songwriters and publishers in the digital age.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>The first time Jack Antonoff realized he was a pretty good songwriter was when he was in indie rock jam band Steel Train.<\/p>\n

Their 2003 debut EP, For You My Dear<\/em>, featured a surprisingly delicate ballad called\u00a0Angelica<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore that, I was writing songs for a hardcore band, so it was more about the live performance,\u201d Antonoff says. \u201cBut that was the first time that I thought to myself, \u2018Oh wow, I can hear this outside of being the person who wrote it, and I feel very proud of it\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been looking for that feeling ever since,\u201d he adds. \u201cWhen you get it, you recognize it and, when you don\u2019t get it, you wait!\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, you suspect Jack Antonoff doesn\u2019t have to wait too long for inspiration to strike. Via his collaborations with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Lorde, Florence + The Machine, St Vincent and many others, as well as his own work in Bleachers and Fun, he has become perhaps the foremost \u2013 and certainly the most recognizable \u2013 songwriter-producer of the age; involved in multiple Grammys, billions of streams and perhaps the last protector of the album as music\u2019s premier format.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>In the past year alone, he has worked on Taylor Swift\u2019s\u00a0Midnights<\/em>, Lana Del Rey\u2019s\u00a0Did You Know That There\u2019s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd<\/em>\u00a0and The 1975\u2019s\u00a0Being Funny In A Foreign Language<\/em>, making him the frontrunner to again win the Producer of the Year Grammy; a gong he also picked up in both 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n

Swift\u2019s\u00a0Anti-Hero\u00a0<\/em>and Del Rey\u2019s\u00a0A&W<\/em>, both co-written and co-produced by Antonoff, are also up for Song of the Year (Anti-Hero<\/em>\u00a0is also shortlisted for Record of the Year), while Swift and Del Rey are both nominated for Album of the Year.<\/p>\n

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But it wasn\u2019t always this way. Antonoff grew up in New Jersey and, as a teenager, became a minor face on the state\u2019s legendary 2000s emo scene, which spawned the likes of My Chemical Romance and Saves The Day.<\/p>\n

Antonoff\u2019s punk band Outline did not hit quite the same heights and, while his next project, Steel Train, scored a deal with Drive-Thru Records and toured prodigiously, Eras Tour-style superstardom remained a long way off.<\/p>\n

“the universe was screaming in my face that it wasn\u2019t working out!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDuring that time, of course I wanted more,\u201d Antonoff shrugs, as he talks to\u00a0MBW<\/em>\u00a0from Los Angeles, where his East Coast cool is being \u201cflustered\u201d by the dry heat. \u201cBut I\u2019m proud of it, because there\u2019s not one moment I look back on where I ever thought, \u2018Shall I do something else?\u2019 Not one! And Jesus Christ, the universe was screaming in my face that it wasn\u2019t working out!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not talking one year or two years, but years and years of losing money,\u201d laughs the songwriter, who scored his first No.1 in 2012 with\u00a0We Are Young<\/em>, as a member of the pop-rock band Fun. \u201cBut that\u2019s all we have in life: believe in something, whether anyone else believes in it or not. And, if people eventually believe in it with you, it\u2019s very life-affirming\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, of course, musicians and the music industry entrust Antonoff with their most sacred projects. Some songwriters get calls from desperate A&Rs searching for a last-minute hit; Antonoff is the guy you enlist to build a long-term project over multiple releases.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s worked on every Taylor Swift album since\u00a01989<\/em>, the joy they take in working together perfectly captured by the viral video showing them gleefully nailing the bridge to 2017\u2019s\u00a0Getaway Car<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Today, he\u2019s similarly thrilled at the belated success of Swift\u2019s\u00a0Cruel Summer<\/em>; co-written by Swift, Antonoff and St Vincent, co-produced by Swift and Antonoff and one of 2023\u2019s biggest hits despite first being released on Swift\u2019s classic 2019\u00a0Lover<\/em>\u00a0album (\u201cYou\u2019re always writing into the future, so it doesn\u2019t surprise me when things have different lives\u201d).<\/p>\n

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