“Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night” by Bleachers Review: Inside the Music Lover of Jack Antonoff

On Spotify, there is a user-created playlist called “The Great Jack Antonoff Collection,” which brings together songs that the 37-year-old songwriter-musician, best known for his work with Taylor Swift, Lorde and Lana Del Rey, produced or co-produced. product. Its 190 titles include many titles from very big names including Sia, the Chicks and Pink, in addition to the aforementioned stars.

The playlist also includes artists below this rung: those who will never be ubiquitous pop icons but have cult following and respect for critics: singer-songwriter St. Vincent, indie-pop phenomenon Clairo, rapper Kevin Abstract of the popular collective Brockhampton. And then there are songs from the indie rock-leaning Mr. Antonoff Project Bleachers, including a few clips from the band’s new album, “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night” (RCA), released Friday. Mr. Antonoff has enjoyed great success in writing and producing with others – he won Grammys for his collaboration on Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Rock Song, in over a dozen other nominations – but its creative essence can be elusive. The Bleachers LP shows how Mr. Antonoff’s work, both as a partner and in his own projects, is a celebration of music itself.

Prior to his stint in the studio with pop superstars, Mr. Antonoff was a companion. Born and raised in Bergenfield, NJ, he enjoyed modest success with folk-rock group jangly Steel Train and joined prog-pop group Fun in the late 2000s. The group had a surprise No.1 hit. with “We Are Young” in 2012 and took a hiatus three years later, just as Mr. Antonoff’s songwriting career took off.

Almost all of his high-profile collaborations have been with women, although Antonoff doesn’t have a ready-made answer as to why, other than to say that he imagines women’s voices when developing ideas. “When I write, I don’t think of Lou Reed or Bowie. I think of Kate Bush, Björk, Fiona Apple, ”he told The Guardian in an interview in 2017. And when he sits down to write with others, he encourages them to dig deep for revealing material. of emotions.