Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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This article was originally published on December 15, 2023.
In honor of Jack Antonoffs third Producer of the Year, Non-ClassicalGrammy, were re-running our Superlatives.
Well just text and be like, Where are you?
Okay, come over, he says.
I was with her the other day and we just went to the studio and started messing around.
Hes also produced multiple albums for Lorde and St. Vincent and recently added the 1975 to his cadre.
he says of the seven-minute, two-part opus.
To do anything but push and find new ground is a bastardization of the job.
Song he and Taylor Swift couldnt have made untilMidnights
Maybe Mastermind.
We made the bulk of that album in my apartment.
Theres a little studio in there, which is the same place that weve worked for many years.
Like, just try some weird shit.
Most surprising Swift era
Oh, every one.
If were not feeling it, well move right the hell along.
What I think is fascinating about songwriting is you cant fake it.
Theres no shortcut; it comes or it doesnt.
You show up, you hope to grab it, and you do or you dont.
Weve been at this point for many years.
With her, Im constantly taken aback.
And that was the whole story withMidnights we did so many things that we had never done before.
The funny thing is you cant recall the sounds.
It was like, All right,Mikey,here are the Juno tracks, do your best.
Sean,heres the drum stuff, see what you might do.
And then Ill have X amount of tracks that are just sound from the room.
The internet was really interested in what sounded like a seagull sound in Is It Over Now?
I would liken it to finding an old diary.
And it made this weird, messy symphony and I love it to this day.
Most California song onOcean Blvd
Definitely Peppers.
But Lanas from Lake Placid and Im from New Jersey.
So Im not saying its a California thing its a New Jersey persons impression of California.
She and I will write a lot, and then the framework of the albums will come together.
For example, Jimmy, which ended up on A&W, was written during theNorman Fucking Rockwellsessions.
So, the Venice Bitch at the end of Taco Truck is the original version of Venice Bitch.
We moved on from that concept, so I had this original Venice Bitch.
That was the theme of that album: Lets get fucking weird.
The one thing everyone agrees on is this grand failure of generations to come.
But yeah, the stuff that shocks me the most is someones vulnerability in a song.
The end of Youre on Your Own, Kid is one of those moments for me.
Most Bleachers song onBleachers
Theres a song called Tiny Moves, which no ones heard yet.
Then, obviously, that grief grows and changes.
And within that, I found myself writing more conversationally, very deep and very intense.
How do you have such a great loss and then also explore other parts of life?
Best Bleachers saxophone part
Either Everybody Lost Somebody or Modern Girl.
Both those parts were written by Evan Smith, whos one of our saxophone players.
was sort of this, like, left pivot.
You know, fun.
But the ladder is Steel Train into Bleachers.
I mean, the time between writing Bullet and Rollercoaster wasnt very far off.
Theres a song called S.O.G Burning in Hell, which I feel like has a Bleachers-ness to it.
It feels like trying to break through to that controlled chaos thing.
I think with Bleachers, it really crystallized.
Hardest project hes produced
Its pretty rare that something is impossible to write or arrange.
Did you ever hear that Lorde song Hard Feelings?
I went really crazy on that.Melodramawas a really intense process.
We were just tearing stuff apart.
Wed do one thing one day, zero it out, try a whole other thing.
The end has to be so euphoric.
Song he produced that he wants to steal for Bleachers
You know, theres not really one.
Like, stuff on Bleachers albums, its so separate.
Ive written songs with Lana that have been on Bleachers albums, obviously Alma Mater.
When I was exiting fun.
But it wasnt very true, to be honest.
I dont regret creating that narrative, but its not the most truthful one.
I care less about that now, because I feel like I can recognize a community around it.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
