The takes on this thread.... The bleachers albums are so good and as someone who listens to Pure Heroine way more than melodrama I still think that is a horrible take. This man gave us Melodrama, Norman Fucking Rockwell, and Masseduction while still putting out Gone Now and Red Hearse. He’s on a pretty epic run. Nate’s recent shading of fun is weird though, and his whole twitter feed has been all over.
I think the issue I have with Jack's production is that you can always immediately tell it's him. It's kind of like all those Max Martin-produced songs in the early 2000s. He has a very particular sound.
When I think of the Jack Antonoff sound, I think "Out of the Woods" and "Walk Me Home," where's he such a part of the songs, he's inserted his own voice in them. I think he's diversified pretty well over the past year. I would not have guessed he produced NFR because it's so sparse compared to his other stuff (granted, I'm not the biggest fan of it, so I haven't engaged with it as much as others). The new Dixie Chicks sounds a little farther out of his comfort zone too. I think he's stretching farther than Max Martin did during his prime.
His impact is also beyond the songs he's actively working on, which is really cool. Listen to that Taylor Swift song "ME!" – the pre-chorus is 100% a Jack melody and he had nothing to do with the song.
While I do agree that the out of the woods style production is kind of his calling card he has definitely diversified. There’s not much of that on Melodrama, and every song on Masseduction sounds pretty different. I think as he evolved as a producer he became better at enabling the artists he is producing to make good material as opposed to bringing a certain sound to the table.
What I think is special about Jack’s production is to an extent you can always hear it’s him, but I think it stops short of all sounding the same. He has certain tricks he uses that you hear a lot, but I think where he really excels is helping already very talented artists hone in on the statement they are trying to make with their albums. I think he really takes time getting to know who he’s working with and what they envision. And I also think he’s been diversifying his sound more as he’s gone on. The Lana and Kevin Abstract albums in particular both moved away from the more established “Jack sound”. As for Nate, I just get the impression he doesn’t like the fame that came with fun. and being thrown in industry machine. His twitter just reads to me like him goofing around and having a self-deprecating humor style.
I mean, he did an entire Kevin Abstract album that didn't have "his sound," plus 90% of the LDR album is incredibly sparse. PLUS a ton of the new Taylor he worked on... it's a tired argument at this point that all his stuff sounds the same
Arizona Baby is a cool record and proves that Jack is more versatile than people think. The only song on that album that sounds like he made it is American Problem.
produced a majority of the album! mostly pretty minimalistic compared to his other production, but you can still tell its him when you listen for it
Listening to Grand Romantic all the way through for the first time in a while and I honestly just kind of forgot how incredible AhHa is. I also forgot that it uses the line from the end of Some Nights