Antonoff has been working with Taylor Swift since 2013 and with Sabrina Carpenter for only a few months, but his collaborative starting point is the same. “You just get to know someone,” he says. “When you get to know someone, you get to know where they are and where they want to be. And that’s the makeup of a great album: Where someone is and where they’re going.
“You want to document the truth about what’s happening in someone’s life. And then also have — I guess the word might be ‘aspirational’ — you ground it with the truth and then you make it magic with all the hopes and dreams. And the more truthful the truth is, the more magical and real the dreamy parts feel.”
As he explains it, his role is part engineer, part creative, part confidante. He doesn’t remember any in-depth planning sessions for The Tortured Poets Department, perhaps because no lengthy catching-up was necessary. “The way you get there is by really knowing someone,” he repeats. “You’re searching for the most authentic version of where someone’s at. And if you reach that authenticity, it is brand new and it is bold and it is shocking and it’s exciting, because the truth about people is always fascinating.”
Compared to other Swift albums, “That one was incredibly deep and emotional and wild,” he recalls. “It just felt like every day something new and amazing was flying out.”
He got extra enjoyment out of the incredible producer’s perch at Electric Lady Studios. “It was a special time to be up there in my room, which is way up top. It’s a funny space, because it’s in New York City, and New York City is New York City. But you get up there, and you kind of feel like you’re on your own little planet. There’s a separateness to it. It’s suspended and there’s a little outdoor area. Like a little shoebox within the city.”
Antonoff returned to Electric Lady to record Bleachers, though in a different role. For his band’s fourth studio album, he entrusted Patrick Berger as co-producer. “I always liked the metaphor of the artist being the balloon and the producer holding the strings. I like being around someone who lets me go wild, but then also is grounding the vision.”
Throughout recording, Antonoff trusted Berger to rein in his excesses. “I was looking at the song ‘Modern Girl’ and I was imagining, ‘Oh, I could go into this and this and it’ll be this epic.’ And he was just like, ‘Nah, it’s a perfect song, that’s it.'” Then while writing lyrics for “Tiny Moves,” Berger told Antonoff, “‘You’re spelling it out too much.’ And he was totally right.”
Bleachers can feel like an odd project; guitar-driven stadium pop from a frontman who, while more charismatic than 99% of singers on earth, is nevertheless a somewhat dimmer star than the artists he works with. Listening to Bleachers might help articulate what makes a Lorde or Lana Del Rey so special; Antonoff layers multiple takes and effects over his voice to thicken it up, trading a little enunciation to get the kind of rich vocal texture that he’s used to.
But Bleachers (and Bleachers) is also a reminder of what makes Antonoff special. Tracks like “Modern Girl,” “Alma Mater,” and “Self Respect” are tidy earworms, and the lyrics mixing the specific and the universal in ways that might recall his more famous collaborators. Even a 150-second tune with a simple structure like “Woke Up Today” manages to save surprises for the end.
And while few deluxe editions are essential, Bleachers (Deluxe) has the benefit of feeling personal. In addition to alternate takes that show how songs progressed over time, Antonoff included perhaps the least-commercial release of his career: “Drug Free America,” a nearly-five-minute vocoder rant.
“It was about someone I knew who was on drugs,” he reveals. “That was me totally fucking around. And sometimes when you’re really fucking around in the most absurd places, you actually hear something really honest. For some reason, admonishing someone who is ruining both of our lives because of drugs, you know, through a vocoder, felt incredibly connected to my experience at that time.”
It was also a reminder, if anyone needed one, that Antonoff is still pushing himself, still experimenting. Though back in March, few outside of Antonoff’s closest circle could guess how far he would be stretched.