I can count on one hand the people I feel safe with in the studio. Jack Antonoff makes you feel like you can just be. Whether we’re tracking fingernail percussion, getting existential, or doing some good ol’ soul-healing gossiping, I always leave our sessions with a new outlook.
I don’t know a producer with a more diverse breadth of work. Yes, we all know the albums he produced and won multiple Grammys for, but I always go back to the music he performs himself. When I listen to Bleachers, I hear subtle threads of his production ear that is present in his contributions to other artists’ projects, but it’s in his own artistry that he glows. And the live shows: holy sh-t.
One of my favorite memories of Jack was watching his father watch him perform last year. If I weren’t having so much fun, I would have been sobbing at the beaming pride in his father’s eyes. We were witnessing a literal rock-’n’-roll revival.
There’s a reason everyone wants to be near Jack. He’s just f-cking cool. The best part? He knows it but would never say it.
Morris is a Grammy-winning artist
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