Highlights
- Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff have a loyal and successful creative partnership that has spanned several albums and genres.
- Antonoff played a pivotal role in helping Swift transition from country to pop music, and they have continued to collaborate and support each other throughout their careers.
- Swift's trust and belief in Antonoff's talent as a producer helped kick-start his career and allowed him to gain recognition in the music industry. They have a close friendship and mutual admiration for each other's work.
In 2023, Taylor Swift attracted media attention when her presence at Jack Antonoff's wedding led to fans swarming the event. Swift's attendance at the wedding was a symbol of her loyal and devoted friendship to Antonoff.
Swift and Antonoff have forged one of the most successful ongoing collaborations in music. The two have worked together on every one of Swift's albums since 2014's "1989." Antonoff was one of the key players in helping Swift shift her sound from country to pop.
Since then, the two have watched their creative partnerships top the charts. They have gone from the recording studio to the Grammy stage more than once. Antonoff even credits Swift with helping kick off his producing career.
Taylor Enlists Jack To Help Move Her Sound From Country To Pop With Her '1989' Album
Swift and Antonoff first worked together on the 2013 track "Sweeter than Fiction," which was written for the film One Chance. This came during the period Swift was working on her next album, which would become "1989."
At the time, Swift was known for being a country artist, although she had several crossover hits. She previously worked with Max Martin on her 2012 album "Red" and brought him back on board for its follow-up.
"Max Martin and [Karl Johan] Shellback [Schuster] were the last people I collaborated with on 'Red,' and I wished we could have done more and explored more," Swift told Billboard in 2014. "So going into this album, I knew that I wanted to start with them again."
Swift also decided to bring Antonoff on board, having enjoyed her experience working with him on "Sweeter than Fiction."
"Then I thought, 'Wouldn't it be amazing to work with Ryan Tedder?' And then I was with Jack Antonoff and Lena Dunham at the beach, and we started talking about our favorite ’80s music. All of this started happening organically, and I found myself gravitating toward pop sensibilities, pop hooks, pop production styles."
Swift even wrote the song "You Are In Love" about Antonoff and Dunham's relationship.
"I've never had that, so I wrote that song about things that Lena [Dunham] has told me about her and Jack [Antonoff]," Swift told Elle in 2015. "That's just basically stuff she's told me. And I think that that kind of relationship—God, it sounds like it would just be so beautiful—would also be hard. It would also be mundane at times."
"1989" became the most successful album of Swift's career. It also marked the first chapter in what would become a long history of Swift and Antonoff's working relationship.
Taylor And Jack Continue To Work Together And Praise Each Other In Interviews
Swift and Antonoff's friendship and professional relationship continued after the "1989" era came to an end. In 2017, Swift released her "Reputation" album, which once again saw her collaborating with Antonoff.
"Sometimes he sits at the piano and we both just start ad-libbing and the song seems to create itself," Swift told The New York Times that year. "His excitement and exuberance about writing songs is contagious. He’s an absolute joy. That’s why everyone loves him. I personally wouldn’t trust someone who didn’t."
Antonoff continued to work with Swift on her albums "Lover," "Folklore," and "Evermore." In 2021, he spoke to NME about Swift's professional evolution over the years.
"I’ve seen her change the music industry first-hand," Antonoff said. "She’s amazing for being a champion, and making things better for the generations to come. She has a long history of rightly exposing some real darkness in the music industry. And I’m personally thankful for it, outside of our friendship and working relationship, just as an artist. She’s asked me some questions a lot of people are afraid to ask."
In 2022, Swift released her "Midnights" album, which also featured contributions from Antonoff. Swift posted a dedication to Antonoff that year on Instagram, calling him her "co-pilot" during the making of the album.
Swift wrote, in part, "He’s my friend for life (presumptuous I know but I stand by it) and we’ve been making music together for nearly a decade HOWEVER… this is our first album we’ve done with just the two of us as main collaborators."
That same year, Antonoff spoke about how Swift helped him reach the next stage of his career.
"I'd been trying to produce for a while, but there was always some industry herb going, 'That's cute, but that's not your lane.’ Taylor was the first person with the stature to go, 'I like the way this sounds, I'm putting it on my album'—and then, suddenly, I was allowed to be a producer," he said.
Jack Credits Taylor With Helping Him Get His Start As A Producer
Antonoff continued to credit Swift with helping kick off his producing career when he spoke to TIME's Person of the Week podcast in 2023.
"She’s the first person who recognized me as a producer," Antonoff said. "A lot of people are afraid to sign off on something that isn’t done by a proven person."
He continued, "I had written lots of songs and produced them, but they would always sort of go somewhere else. So the label or whoever could say, oh, we had this person produce it. And, you know, I put my heart and soul into that song and she said, ‘I love it.'"
Antonoff also talked about referencing Swift's "Out of the Woods" on her recent hit "Anti-Hero."
"I had played her that track, and I remember, we were at my apartment in New York. And sometimes she gets this look in her eye where she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m going in.’ You know, she goes in in many different ways and is just the greatest writer and vocalist ever. But on that one, I just remember watching her and being like, ‘Uh oh. We’ve got a live one,'" Antonoff said.
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