Jack Antonoff says working on the new remake of '1989' with Taylor Swift was like “finding an old diary.”
The 39-year-old musician produced the original hit 2014 LP and returns to work with Swift, 34, on '1989 (Taylor's Version)' which is due out in October 2023.
Antonoff was so excited to listen to the masters again and hear the techniques he used to lay the pieces back then, admitting that it gave him the feeling of stepping back in time just like reading back an old journal entry.
In an interview with Vulture, he said: “I would liken it to finding an old diary. There are so many things in so many of these sessions that I was like, 'Oh, boy. “Because you go through phases and it made me feel really sweet. This younger version of me that was just piling stuff on, I mean, 'Out of the Woods' is just like a kitchen sink. That's the glory of it: As someone who didn't score any success as a producer, there was no reason for me to pile all that on except that it gave me a lot of joy. And he made this weird, messy arrangement, and I love it to this day.”
Jack and Taylor's working relationship began with '1989' and has since continued with five new studio albums, including 2022's 'Midnights'.
The Bleachers member hopes they'll continue writing songs together for as long as they're both making music, because it always feels like they're breaking new ground in the studio.
He said: “I've never been in a room with her and I felt like we were doing anything but breaking new ground that we let go for even ten seconds. If we don't feel it, we're going to go right to hell together.
“We started working together in '89, we did a lot of work on 'Reputation', which was so great and intense, and then Lover, we started doing some weirder stuff. When we did 'Folklore', that was obviously a very different angle, and some of the earlier songs like 'August' and 'Mirrorball' are some of my favorite things we've ever done. You know, writing a song and collaborating with somebody, once you do it, you're like, 'Well, who knows if that's ever going to happen again,' 'cause it's just magical. With her, I'm constantly amazed. I'll joke with her sometimes when we have something crazy, like “Okay, I guess we still have it!” I really don't have anything for her, and I let it go if we didn't stretch ourselves into the dark. And that was the whole story with 'Midnights' — we did so many things we'd never done before.”
