Jack Antonoff, the 8-time Grammy Award-winning producer and favored collaborator of some of pop’s biggest names recently stopped by TIME’s Person of the Week podcast for a musical chat. He and host Charlotte Alter had a wide-ranging conversation, following his career from his New Jersey childhood bedroom to the top of the charts.
When it came to his work with Taylor Swift, Antonoff spoke of her early belief in his potential. “She’s the first person who recognized me as a producer. A lot of people are afraid to sign off on something that isn’t done by a proven person. 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.’”
‘That song’ was 1989‘s “Out of the Woods” — which the duo paid creative tribute to on last year’s Midnights track “Anti-Hero.” About that reference, Antonoff explained, “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 and host Charlotte Atler also bonded over both hailing from New Jersey, which he believes is a prime spot for creative people. “Because of its proximity to New York City,” he began, “it has to be self-deprecating. And in my opinion—and this is no knock on the Parisians or anyone from big cities. But in my experience, it’s not necessarily the recipe for the kind of work that I gravitate to. The kinda work that I gravitate to—and it’s probably from being New Jersey—is hearing someone dream, and struggle, and get there in a backward way.””
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