Jack Antonoff

Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is a Grammy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Bleachers, and the lead guitarist of the indie rock band fun. He was previously the lead singer-songwriter of the band Steel Train.

Early life

Antonoff was born in Bergenfield, New Jersey, the son of Shira (Wall) and Rick Antonoff. He is the younger brother of fashion designer Rachel Antonoff. His younger sister, Sarah, died of brain cancer at the age of 13 years.

Antonoff grew up in New Milford, New Jersey, and Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, and attended elementary school at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Bergen County, New Jersey. For high school, he and his sister commuted to New York City, New York, to attend the Professional Children's School.

During his sophomore year of high school, he and several friends from elementary school formed a punk rock band called "Outline." Antonoff's first-ever band was successful enough to tour in Florida and Texas; however, the band dissolved after several members prioritized their college studies.

Career

Early years: Steel Train, "We Are Young"

In 2002, Antonoff and friend, Scott Irby-Ranniar, formed the band Steel Train—Antonoff was the lead singer, and they recruited drummer Matthias Gruber. The band then convinced one of their friends from the band Random Task, Evan Winiker, to drop out of college to join the new band. Steel Train secured a recording deal with Drive-Thru Records.

In 2008, Nate Ruess (formerly the frontman of The Format) asked Antonoff to join him and Andrew Dost (formerly of Anathallo) in a new band, which became fun. Antonoff was already well acquainted with Ruess and Dost, as their former bands had all toured together.

fun.'s second album, Some Nights, produced the band's first number-one hit single, "We Are Young." The song was cowritten by Antonoff with Ruess, Dost, and Jeff Bhasker.

2013–present: "Brave," Taylor Swift, Bleachers

In 2013, Antonoff cowrote the song "Brave" with Sara Bareilles, after they were introduced by Sara Quin of band Tegan & Sara. Bareilles said to Billboard: "We met for breakfast one day, and I was just so enamored with him and his personality ... The first day we sat down together was the day we wrote 'Brave.'" Antonoff wrote the song about a friend’s struggle to speak openly about his sexuality, and it was later adopted as a gay anthem.

The quickly written song was released on April 23, and by the end of June, "Brave" had sold 160,000 digital copies and peaked at number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The music video for the song was viewed 1.1 million times on YouTube within a month of its release in May 2013, and by the start of 2015, had received nearly 39 million views. "Brave" was used by Microsoft to advertise its Windows Tablet technology device.

Also in 2013, "Sweeter Than Fiction," a song Antonoff cowrote with Swift for the Weinstein Co. film One Chance, was released with the film. The song was written in Antonoff's New York City apartment after they shared a love of a particular snare drum from a Fine Young Cannibals song. They brainstormed ideas by email before starting the songwriting process.

Antonoff announced a solo project called "Bleachers" in February 2014. Antonoff explained in June 2014 that the project was a consideration for around 10 years, and the name is inspired by the “disconnected, darker side” of suburban youth and John Hughes movies, which were "tied to a time when big songs were great songs." The songs for the debut Bleachers album were mostly written on Antonoff's laptop computer in hotel rooms during a fun. world tour.

The Huffington Post published a positive review of Bleachers' first single, "I Wanna Get Better"—released on February 18—calling it the "catchiest song of 2014," while Time proclaimed, "[Bleachers] is more fun than fun."

The first Bleachers' album, Strange Desire, was released in July 2014, and "I Wanna Get Better" peaked at number one on the U.S. Alternative charts during the same week. The track was eventually named one of Rolling Stone's Top 50 Singles of 2014.

Antonoff cowrote and produced two songs on Taylor Swift's 1989, including the third single "Out of the Woods." Released in October 2014, 1989 became the biggest-selling album in the U.S. in 2014. On the deluxe version of the album, Swift explains in a voice memo that the song "I Wish You Would" originated from a guitar track that Antonoff had recorded on his smartphone. After Swift first heard the track, she asked Antonoff if she could develop the idea further, and it eventually became an album track after both songwriters were satisfied with Swift's work.

Accolades

"Brave," as well as the corresponding album, were nominated at the 2014 Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Album of the Year. The following year, Antonoff was nominated for a Golden Globe for his collaboration with Swift, "Sweeter Than Fiction."

Personal life

In January 2014, it was reported that Antonoff is dating filmmaker and actress Lena Dunham. He explained in response to attention that Dunham received after she was questioned in 2014 about why she was often seen naked on her television show, Girls, "I try to stay out of it ... There's no one stronger than Lena [Dunham]."

Antonoff's sister, Rachel, is a New York City-based fashion designer. The siblings lived together in the Upper West Side of New York City when Antonoff first moved out of the family home near the end of 2012.

In regard to his friendship with Swift, the two first met at the 2012 Europe Music Awards. He described the popular musician in June 2014 as "truly the nicest, most interesting person that I’ve met in that circle [mainstream music]." Antonoff described Swift as "a modern Joni Mitchell" during the same interview.

In June 2014, Antonoff said he was "desperate" for kids, explaining:

It just seems like the most fun thing in the world. I’ve never met people who have kids who haven’t looked me in the eye and been like, "It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened." ... I think it’s biological. I’m 30. I’m not that young, right? I’m not, like, 24 or 22. I’m no longer in the phase of my life where I talk about everything as in the future. Like, I’m in the future.

Songwriting credits

Year	Artist	Song	Co-written with	U.S. peak position	U.K. peak position
2011	fun.	"We Are Young"	Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jeff Bhasker	1	1
2012	fun.	"Some Nights"	Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jeff Bhasker	3	7
2012	Carly Rae Jepsen	"Sweetie"	Carly Rae Jepsen, Sara Quin, Klas Åhlund	–	–
2013	Tegan and Sara	"How Come You Don't Want Me"	Sara Quin, Tegan Quin	–	–
2013	Sara Bareilles	"Brave"	Sara Bareilles	26	–
2013	Sara Bareilles	"Chasing the Sun"	Sara Bareilles	–	–
2013	Taylor Swift	"Sweeter Than Fiction"	Taylor Swift	34	45
2014	Christina Perri	"I Don't Wanna Break"	Christina Perri	–	–
2014	Taylor Swift	"Out of the Woods"	Taylor Swift	18	–
2014	Taylor Swift	"I Wish You Would"	Taylor Swift	–	–
2014	Taylor Swift	"You Are In Love"	Taylor Swift	–	–

With Bleachers:

Albums

• Strange Desire (2014)
• Strange Desire: The Demos (2014)

With fun.:

Albums

• Aim and Ignite (2009)
• Some Nights (2012)

With Steel Train:

Albums

• Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun (2005)
• Trampoline (2007)
• Steel Train (2010)

EPs

• For You My Dear (2003)
• Steel Train Is Here (2009)