Jack Antonoff says working on Lorde's Melodrama involved 'all the emotions'.
Jack Antonoff says working on Lorde's Melodrama involved 'all the emotions'.
Jack Antonoff's supposed to be on holiday. Fat chance. Chris Schulz meets the music producer to the stars.
It's icy outside, the jingle bells are jangling and Jack Antonoff, the producer behind many of 2017's biggest pop albums, is supposed to be enjoying a rare holiday.
Despite the fact it's nearly Christmas and he's had an absolutely epic year, when TimeOut calls Antonoff at home in his Brooklyn apartment, the 33-year-old is struggling to sit still.
"My version of a holiday is when I don't have to be anywhere. It doesn't mean I don't do things," he admits. "I'm just ... I'm home."
Home is work and work is home to Antonoff. That's thanks to his humble home studio, the place where Antonoff helped hone three of 2017's biggest albums.
It's where Lorde honed her Melodrama, Taylor Swift recovered her Reputation, and St Vincent embarked on her Massseduction.
On top of that, Antonoff also worked on songs released by Banks and Pink this year.
It's also where Antonoff pieced together Gone Now, his second album for indie-popsters Bleachers and the reason for his upcoming New Zealand visit next month, when his post-fun. outfit will open for Paramore.
"We've been trying to figure out a reason to get down there for a while and I love the Paramore guys and they asked us about the tour and it just seemed like the perfect way (to do it)," he says.
Antonoff doesn't just bring his work home, he lives among it. And, like everything Antonoff does, there's a precise, thoughtful reason behind it.
"I like to make music in places where people listen to music. It makes me feel closer to where it's one day going to end up," he explains. "No one listens to music in studios. They listen to music at home."
He shares his home with his partner of five years, Girls creator Lena Dunham. At least, he did until the pair split earlier this month.
Wide-eyed internet rumours suggest Antonoff might have already moved on - and one rumoured match includes Lorde.
TimeOut's interview was conducted before his split with Dunham, and before the internet rumour-mill fired up.
But today he's got plenty to say about their relationship, calling Melodrama's troubled, year-long creation process a "wild journey".
"Working with people is really intimate, you have to want to understand them," he says.
"She's a brilliant producer and a brilliant writer. Finding all of that was a wild journey. It was just life. So much time was put into it and spent on it ... It was all the emotions."
Along with the hallmarks of 80s music, channelling emotions are Antonoff's calling card. He grew up with grunge, but says he discovered 80s music in his 20s and "felt connected to it".
"The thing I love the most about the 80s was there were a lot of big songs that were also very sad at the same time," he says.
"Songwriters and producers were just very honed in on that moment. It might have been because of synthesisers. There's a lot of sadness in those sounds that you can't escape."
His ability to marry those sounds to modern pop across Lorde and Swift's records is why Antonoff's getting plenty of production offers.
But these days, he's being approached by many wanting that magic Antonoff touch. So he's been busy turning many of those down.
"If I'm going to work with other people, I only do it if I really truly feel it and want to do it. I don't have to do it. It's not my only job," he explains. "I'm often on tour or making my own records."
So how does he choose who to work with? "It's this deep feeling where you spend time with someone, and some times it takes a lot of time, and you realise, 'Okay, we could be partners in making something together. That could actually work,'" he says.
"It's nice to be invited, but it doesn't mean you're meant to be there."
A chance encounter is how he ended up on Melodrama, his biggest production project yet. The pair met randomly at a Grimes show, and their connection, he says, was "instant, in that I wanted to be in the same room with her".
Antonoff's hoping to see her when he's in Auckland for two days next month, when he's planning to spend his downtime "just hanging out and writing some music".
"If she's in town, nothing would make me happier than to see her version of New Zealand, because that's the version I've been hearing about a very long time," he admits.
"I guess we'll see where everyone is in the world at that moment."
Who: Bleachers front man super producer to the stars, Jack Antonoff Where and when: Opening for Paramore, February 13, Spark Arena Also: New Bleachers album Gone Now, out now
