Originally Published in Playboy Online
On August 24, Taylor Swift released “Look What You Made Me Do,” spurring think pieces and social media reactions from every corner of the internet. From junior high cafeterias to office lounges, award shows to meme pages, the song’s syncopated deep synths and staccato piano riffs were everywhere.
Her full length album, Reputation was somehow even more omnipresent. The world was captivated with the new Taylor. And let’s be clear, Reputation birthed an entirely new Taylor. From the album’s very first notes, sustained deep bass notes to be exact, it’s clear that Swift wasn’t lying when she said the old Taylor is dead. If 1989 left the country sweetheart’s coffin ajar, Reputation slammed it shut and buried her. In her place is a shrewder Taylor, supported not by acoustic guitars, but by 80’s synths, anthemic
chords, and sampled background vocals, all thanks to collaborator Jack Antonoff.
Swifties weren’t the only ones to enjoy Antonoff’s stylings this year. The Brooklyn-based writer, producer, singer, and instrumentalist collaborated with Lorde, St. Vincent, and Pink, all while releasing an album with his alternative pop group, Bleachers. Pre-2017, Antonoff found limited success with one style: uplifting pop anthems like Fun.’s “Tonight (We Are Young)” and Sara Bareilles’ “Brave.” In 2017, he learned that a great producer amplifies an artist’s vision instead of pushing his own. That awareness inspired a flurry of exceptional pop songs uniquely tailored to each of his collaborators.
Antonoff’s work with Pink is gritty and honest. For indie icon St. Vincent, he trades heavy synths and hollow pop percussion for distorted guitars and punched downbeats. Most impressively, on Lorde’s critically acclaimed Melodrama, he adds just enough production without distracting from her striking lyrics.
Take Lorde’s “Hard Feelings/Loveless” for example. As a reflective, post-breakup song, it is unmistakably Lorde’s. Through the two-part song, Lorde learns how to practice self-care, and masters the art of wanting to move on. She then chalks the whole failed relationship up to our loveless generation. Antonoff, who has relied on uplifting pop melodies most of his career, would never write such a thing. Yet he complements Lorde beautifully. Her mature, expressive lyrics are paired with somber, but explosive production techniques. Electric squiggles and crashing cymbals interrupt Lorde’s reflective lyrics to exemplify the pain she is continuing to feel. The bridge is a traffic collision of noises – squealing whooshes, metallic chirps, gnarled percussion – before bowing out of the way in favor of calming string instruments as Lorde starts to accept her solitude.
Bowing out of the way is a skill Jack Antonoff needed to hone before earning his fantastic 2017. While he has always been an incredible musician, he has at times overpowered his collaborators with his exuberant production. Early in his career with indie rock band Steel Train, he established some of his signature musical tells. The band incorporated the off-beat claps, upbeat choruses, and oh-ah background vocals Antonoff still uses today, just with fewer computers. After establishing his sound, Antonoff joined the pop trio Fun. Through their first album, Aim and Ignite, the band managed to blend styles well enough. The album’s opener, “Be Calm,” combines Antonoff’s sampled pop noises with lead singer, Nate Ruess’ earnestness to create a wonderfully unique indie-pop song. However, their second album, Some Nights, was plagued by overproduction and questionable use of auto-tune. Fun. had some
huge hits, but eventually, they dissolved.
Jack Antonoff went on to create Bleachers while starting his own career in music producing. Some of his early productions, including Swift’s 2015 release, “Out Of The Woods,” feel more like bonus Bleachers tracks than collaborations. The song’s sampled oh-whoa vocals and synth-heavy verses are not paired with anything especially Swift-specific.
In the end, the evolution of Bleachers may have been the catapulting factor for Antonoff’s production career. He has always had a clear artistic vision, but it continued to be half-conceptualized on other artists’ songs. Finally, on Bleachers’ latest album, Gone Now, he was able to capture that vision. He simultaneously backed off a bit in the production booth, preserving the authenticity of his collaborators while polishing their art.
With the help of Antonoff’s newly refined production talent, 2017’s stars turned their visions into some powerful pieces of pop. Pink utilized his deep synths and light pianos on “Beautiful Trauma” to put a melancholy twist on Antonoff’s traditional pop anthem. St. Vincent added layers to a frantic ocean of his synths on “Sugarboy” to create a thrilling, lustful track. Lorde employed Antonoff’s signature piano riffs on “Supercut” to shape an imaginative pop melody.
The cherry on top of Antonoff’s 2017 came in the form of ballads and laments. While few producers can elevate so many different styles like Antonoff, even fewer can take similarly themed songs, and make them distinct. St. Vincent’s “Happy Birthday, Johnny,” Lorde’s “Sober II (Melodrama),” and Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day” all explore themes of celebrations and relationships, but from vastly different perspectives. Antonoff worked with each artist to tweak the songs toward their individual personas. St. Vincent’s is a personal, remorseful tale about a friend lost to drug abuse. Lorde’s is also remorseful, but in a hungover, “I used up all my serotonin last night” kind of way. Swift’s is a foil to both. Whereas “Happy Birthday, Johnny” uses the New Year as a chance to reflect on a relationship with a troubled friend, “New Year’s Day” uses the holiday to be thankful for a close one. And while Lorde is wistfully singing, “Oh how fast the evening passes, cleaning up the champagne glasses,” Taylor Swift is lovingly humming, “I’ll be
cleaning up bottles with you on New Year’s Day.”
From loving ballads to impassioned choruses, Jack Antonoff defined a great year in pop, even if he helped kill the old Taylor along the way. If his New Year’s Eve celebration is as successful as his year, he’ll have plenty of bottles to clean up on New Year’s Day.
Rob Holland 