Jack Michael Antonoff (born March 31, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Bleachers, and previously the guitarist and drummer for the pop rock band Fun and the lead vocalist of the indie rock band Steel Train. Antonoff has produced and co-written songs with other music acts such as Taylor Swift, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent, Pink, Florence and the Machine, Kendrick Lamar, Sabrina Carpenter, and Doja Cat.
Antonoff has won thirteen Grammy Awards. As part of Fun, he was awarded the Best New Artist and the Song of the Year for "We Are Young" (2011). He gained prominence as a music producer following his works with Swift, leading to three Album of the Year wins from her albums 1989 (2014), Folklore (2020), and Midnights (2022). His other Album of the Year nominations include Lorde's Melodrama (2017), Swift's Evermore (2020) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024); Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019) and Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (2023); Carpenter's Short n' Sweet (2024) and Man's Best Friend (2025), and Lamar's GNX (2024).
Having won Producer of the Year three consecutive times from 2022 to 2024, Antonoff has been credited by critics with having influenced the popular music trends of the 2010s and 2020s.*
Songs he contributed to—from "We Are Young" to Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" (2017), "Cruel Summer" (2019), "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" (2021), "Anti-Hero" (2022), "Is It Over Now?" (2023), "Fortnight" (2024), and "I Knew It, I Knew You" (2026); Sabrina Carpenter's "Please Please Please" (2024) and "Manchild" (2025); and Kendrick Lamar's "Squabble Up" and "Luther" (both 2024)—have topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
He has curated film soundtracks as well, including One Chance (2014), Fifty Shades Darker (2018), Love, Simon (2018), and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022); singles from the first two soundtracks, "Sweeter Than Fiction" by Swift and "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" by Swift and Zayn Malik have garnered nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. He also composed the original song "I Knew It, I Knew You" with Swift for the film Toy Story 5.
Early life Antonoff was born on March 31, 1984, in Bergenfield, New Jersey. He is the second of three children of Shira (Wall) and Rick Antonoff. He is the younger brother of fashion designer Rachel Antonoff.Swerdloff, Alexis. "Sibling Success: The Power of 2" , The New York Times, July 4, 2012. Accessed January 2, 2013. His younger sister, Sarah, died of brain cancer at the age of 13 when Jack was a senior in high school. According to Antonoff, the event had a profound effect on him, "my whole career has been revisiting that through a different lens." Antonoff is Jewish. He grew up in New Milford, New Jersey, and Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey and attended elementary school at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County.Leichman, Joseph. "More powerful than a locomotive..." , Jewish Standard, November 26, 2010. Accessed January 2, 2013. "Jack Antonoff of New Milford and Daniel Silbert of Tenafly first crossed paths in elementary school at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford, where they also met Evan Winiker, whose family moved to Teaneck in time for him to begin the sixth grade at Schechter. . ...Aberback, Brian. "Pop-rock band Fun playing at Jingle Ball" , The Record (Bergen County), December 5, 2012. Accessed January 3, 2012. "'The past year has been crazy in so many ways,' said guitarist Jack Antonoff, who grew up in New Milford and Woodcliff Lake." He and Rachel commuted to Manhattan to attend the Professional Children's School.
During his sophomore year of high school, in November 1998, he and several friends from elementary school formed a punk rock band called Outline. They released a self-titled EP through Lifetime Records, a friend's record label, in January 2000, which was recorded by Jack's childhood friend, Heath Miller of Excess dB Entertainment. Antonoff initially sang in the group until early 2000 when Eddie Wright took over on vocals. With the addition of Wright, they recorded six songs which were later released as 6 Song Demo in the summer. They released an album, A Boy Can Dream, in July 2001 through Triple Crown Records. When they were 15, Antonoff and his Outline bandmate used a DIY guide to book shows in numerous states, including Florida and Texas, and borrowed Antonoff's parents' minivan to travel in. During the tour, Outline played in venues such as anarchist bookstores, while the oldest member of the band drove because he was 18 years old. Antonoff explained in 2014: "Half the time no one would show up or the equipment would be too fucked up to play... but that's when I fell in love with touring." The band lasted until 2002, when Steel Train would sign to Drive-Thru Records.
Music career
Steel Train and Fun. (2001–2015) In summer of 2001, Antonoff and friend Scott Irby-Ranniar formed the band Steel Train, playing their first ever show at Club Krome in South Amboy, NJ on September 15, along with future labelmates Allister and The Early November, who were about to sign to Drive-Thru Records. Antonoff was the lead singer, and they recruited drummer Matthias Gruber. The band then convinced two of their friends from the band Random Task (at the time managed by Heath Miller, promoter of Club Krome at Excess dB Entertainment), Evan Winiker and Matthew Goldman, to drop out of college to join the new band. Steel Train secured a recording deal with Drive-Thru Records. The group was popular on the jamband festival circuit and Antonoff has said he has applied that grassroots mentality to his future projects.
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, meeting at a show at Club Krome on June 11, 2003. The new band released its debut album, Aim and Ignite, in 2009. Fun's second album, Some Nights (2012), produced the band's first number-one hit single, "We Are Young". The song was co-written by Antonoff with Ruess, Dost, and Jeff Bhasker. Fun. then played with their musical heroes Queen in September 2013 at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, which was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Antonoff played Brian May's guitar during the rehearsal, which he described as the "most surreal experience ever." The band then released a free six-song EP in December 2013, titled Before Shane Went to Bangkok: Fun. Live in the USA.
Bleachers (2014–present)
Antonoff announced a solo project called Bleachers in February 2014. Antonoff stated in June 2014 that the project had been a consideration for around 10 years, and the name was 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." Antonoff revealed the intent behind the debut single in a Rolling Stone interview:
Antonoff told Rolling Stone that while the song may sound joyous, "it's very desperate" and, like many of the other songs on the album is about loss. Antonoff worked with producers John Hill and Vince Clarke on the Bleachers studio album, as he sought to create "massive, beautiful pop songs that sound fuckin' cool." The completed 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. In regard to Strange Desire, Antonoff said:
"I Wanna Get Better" was eventually named number 18 in Rolling Stones 50 Best Songs of 2014, with the publication describing the song as "therapy rock" that is "as fun as it is cathartic". Antonoff released Bleachers' second album Gone Now on June 2, 2017. Its lead single "Don't Take the Money" peaked at number 2 on Alternative Radio. On July 30, 2021, he released Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night. Bleachers' self-titled fourth studio album was released on March 8, 2024, being preceded by the release of four singles: "Modern Girl", "Alma Mater", "Tiny Moves", and "Me Before You".
Taylor Swift In 2013, Antonoff wrote and produced the song "Sweeter than Fiction" with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, for the film One Chance. The song was written in Antonoff's New York City apartment after he and Swift shared a love of a particular snare drum sound from a Fine Young Cannibals song. They brainstormed ideas by email before starting the songwriting process.
Swift and Antonoff wrote and produced three songs together on Swift's fifth studio album, 1989, including the single "Out of the Woods", as well as "I Wish You Would", and the bonus track "You Are in Love". 1989 was released in October 2014 and became the biggest-selling album in the U.S. that year. 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 it, she asked Antonoff if she could develop the idea further, and it eventually became an album track. The album won Antonoff two Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album in 2016.
In 2016, Swift, Antonoff, and Sam Dew wrote Swift and Zayn's song "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", with Antonoff producing, for the film Fifty Shades Darker. The track appears on the Fifty Shades Darker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The duo wrote and produced the number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do" as well, which was released on August 25, 2017. Antonoff was a key contributor to Swift's sixth studio album, Reputation. Aside from "Look What You Made Me Do", Swift and Antonoff also wrote and produced five other songs together on Reputation—"Getaway Car", "Dress", "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", "Call It What You Want", and "New Year's Day".
In 2019, Swift and Antonoff wrote eight songs and produced eleven tracks together for Swift's seventh studio album, Lover, including the promotional single "The Archer", the title track, which served as the album's third single, and the number-one single "Cruel Summer".
In 2020, Swift and Antonoff worked together on Swift's eighth studio album, Folklore. Along with Aaron Dessner and Swift, Antonoff serves as one of the songwriters and producers for the album, with Antonoff helping to co-produce six songs and co-write four, including the third single, "Betty". Antonoff continued to collaborate with Swift on Folklore "sister album", which is Swift's ninth studio album, Evermore, in which he co-wrote the tracks "Gold Rush" and "Ivy", and co-produced the former. Both projects earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, with Folklore winning the award.