NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: For ‘Sunday Today With Willie Geist’, the host welcomed Jack Antonoff, the record producer who also served as the lead singer of the rock band ‘Bleachers’.
During the interview, Antonoff got candid about his work with pop singer icon Taylor Swift and his working relationship with her. Antonoff reportedly worked with Swift on many songs, including her album ‘Midnights’ which won Album of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards in September.
Besides that, Antonoff also detailed how the death of his sister shaped his songwriting and reflected on his journey in the music industry.
Jack Antonoff’s working relationship with Taylor Swift
During an exclusive interview with ‘Today’ host Willie Geist, Jack Antonoff spoke about his working relationship and friendship with Taylor Swift.
He revealed that the two of them worked together on her 2017 hit ‘Getaway Car’ featured in her sixth studio album ‘Reputation’.
In the Netflix film ‘Miss Americana’, Swift demonstrated the process of creating the bridge of the song with Antonoff. As they were brainstorming lyrics in the studio, a brilliant idea struck Swift when Antonoff proposed some lyrics that could fit perfectly. After this scene was shared by fans on social media, it quickly went viral.
To this, Antonoff said, “That video is popular for the perfect reason. That is the only time in my life, from the million hours I’ve spent in studios, that a camera was ever on ... when magic actually happened.”
He continued, “And she just had her iPhone on for whatever reason. And I think that’s why that video became so popular because it was real.”
About their relationship, he said, “I don't know, I could quantify our relationship in very reductive ways about the things we agree on, the sounds we like, but the truth is we've just grown together.”
"I mean, she's put an amazing amount of belief in me, and it's powerful," he expressed.
He went on to reveal that although he already had a passion for the music industry, it was Swift who encouraged him, saying, "You can produce this."
"And that relationship has gone on and on and on," he added.
Jack Antonoff opened up about his sister’s death on ‘Today’
After reflecting on his friendship with Taylor Swift, Antonoff also opened up about how he’s used songwriting as a coping mechanism to process the loss of his sister.
He told Geist, “My whole life, I had written about my sister.”
It was reported that at the age of 18, Antonoff suffered the loss of his sister, Sarah, who died of brain cancer when she was 13.
He said, “I kind of wrote pretty much about that loss through the lens of different ages, which is a really powerful place to write from.” He also mentioned that his early dedication to music can be traced back to the influence of his sister's illness on his family.
He noted that when his sister got sick, “My parents just felt like they were frying a bigger fish. Because she was sick — in a great way, they just didn’t care.”
"Do what you want to do," is how he describes his parent’s attitude towards his music at the time.
When Geist asked him what sparked his initial interest in music, Antonoff said, “I don’t know. I just always wrote, and I always played. And it was when I was doing all of it that I could really recognize myself the best," per Today.
