Jack Antonoff is the producer behind some of the biggest pop records of the past decade, two of which — Taylor Swift‘s Midnights and Lana Del Rey‘s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd — earned album of the year nods at this year’s Grammys. (Midnights ended up taking home the prize.)
And in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 released Wednesday (March 6), the musical mastermind opened up about some of his most magical moments working with the “Anti-Hero” singer and “Summertime Sadness” musician. “Every time we do something new, I joke, ‘I guess we still got it,’ because there’s no reason for it to keep coming the way it does,” he told Lowe.
“There’s a lot of magic there,” Antonoff continued. “I feel that way with Taylor, I feel that way with Lana … It’s almost like, the more we do, the less I expect it. Because I often think to myself, well, how much longer could we really keep having this spark? And I’m just grateful that it’s there, and I don’t know where it comes from or where it goes, but the one thing that I’ve noticed is that anyone who claims to know where it comes from and where it goes burns out pretty quick.”
Reflecting on making “Mariners Apartment Complex” for Del Rey’s acclaimed album Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Antonoff described the surreal experience of watching the singer writing the chorus in real time. “She just got behind the mic, she just sang that part,” he recalled. “She heard it, I heard it. And if anyone didn’t hear how brilliant it was, they’re a moron.”
He also touched on the whirlwind moment he and Swift wrote the bridge to the pop star’s Reputation track “Getaway Car,” which the pair captured on video. Fans loved the clip so much, Antonoff re-created it with Swift onstage during a surprise guest appearance at the Eras Tour last year.
“I remember the moment that Taylor was sitting in my apartment and we were doing ‘Getaway Car,’ and it’s like, these things, they tell you what they are, and they’re pretty unimpeachable,” he told Lowe. “So I guess that’s what I look for, or that’s why I know I could do something with someone, is if that’s all we’re looking for, is this feeling.”
Antonoff’s new album Bleachers arrives March 8.
