This article was originally published in August 2021, but we'll be updating it over the next few years, because you can't stop Jack Antonoff.
Jack Antonoff remains reserved and busy. Or as fellow singer-songwriter and producer SG Lewis put it:
Where does Jack Antonoff find the time to produce each album? The man is PROLIFIC
— sg (@SGLewis_) October 21, 2022
Antonoff, former member of fun. and current leader of the indie pop group Bleachers, is the most sought-after producer in the pop world right now, period. This, like any burst of fame, comes with a harsher magnifying glass. Antonoff has recently become a somewhat polarizing figure; Many love the signature embellishments he adds to the tracks, while others think he's getting formulaic.
Wherever you stand when it comes to Antonoff's speech, his resume of contributions to modern pop is worth highlighting. Not to mention his six Grammy Awards; He was nominated for Producer of the Year in 2020 and 2021, and won the category again in 2022.
With Bleachers, Clairo and Lorde releasing Antonoff-produced projects in quick succession throughout 2021 and Antonoff showing no signs of leaving the studio throughout 2022, we found this was the perfect time to take on the mammoth task of rating each song . The loving defender of the energy of the main character of the 80s has ever produced. To be clear, this is not a ranking of Swift or Del Rey's discographies; rather, we set out to illustrate a map of Antonoff's growth and influence as a producer, while highlighting the varied and unique merits of each song.
The basic rules: This list excludes songs that Antonoff may have co-written/composed but was not involved as a producer, as well as most of Del Rey's remixes, voice notes, and spoken word album. We've also omitted unreleased songs and combined interludes/instrumentals where appropriate. The extra clues were fair game.
The usual suspects appear on the list of hundreds of songs, namely Taylor Swift, Lorde and Lana Del Rey, but there are moments with artists like Kevin Abstract, St. Vincent and Clairo that have allowed Antonoff to experiment with different musical strokes. , expanding his palette of production skills. When examining his production discography, some of his quirks become very clear. He knows his lane and can achieve excellence there.
Meanwhile, some of the less favorable feelings circulating about Antonoff seem to lump him in with his frequent collaborators. In a 2021 conversation with the New York Times before the release of Solar energy, Lorde rejected the idea that she was making a “Jack Antonoff record,” rightly resentful of the idea that she was just another feather in his cap. Antonoff is not the one who made Lorde great; It's probably not his fault that 2021 record is relatively mediocre either.
What the list does reveal, however, is that Antonoff's reputation as a pop super-producer is the result of years of dedication and a bit of healthy experimentation. At some point do developing musical motifs become repetitive? What impact does Antonoff's involvement have on the reception of a new release? While we may not have all the answers, we do have this ranking, listed in order from the songs we're happy to forget to the songs we admire (tonoff). Scroll to the bottom for a playlist we'll do our best to update over the years.
– Maria Siroky
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