Top 45 Jack Antonoff Quotes

I love ABC Family!

The only people playing the roles of classic rock stars are hip-hop artists, now. Kanye‘s stage persona, and the way he approaches making albums, and the way he wants to be better than everyone else? That’s reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. That’s reminiscent of the Beatles.

For me, a perfect pop song is something like ‘This Year,’ by the Mountain Goats.

I always had the feeling that Bleachers is my soul.

My father played guitar, so I always wanted to play for that reason. But I think the biggest reason was just the ’90s in general – growing up listening to the Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day and bands like that, and going to concerts and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.

Bleachers comes from a different place. It’s personal. It’s just me putting myself out there as myself. It’s very intense.

When I work with other people, I don’t have to do that – it’s because I love to do it and I want to do it.

I don’t like having to be pushed into a box.

You have to believe that people don’t want what you think they’re going to like, you know? They want what you like. Once you start doing that, you actually start connecting with people.

When you’re in a band, it’s like everyone’s the CEO, and anyone could destroy it at any moment.

The connection I make with being young and growing up is, like, the feeling of not being crushed by the world. Having an idea, thinking you can do it.

I think it’s nice to do work that is vaguely compromising to your health because it means you really care about it.

I went to high school in New York City. So, I grew up in New Jersey my whole life, and I was watching all the people and all the kids that I met there become so jaded.

I think what probably happens when you put two awkward/clunky people together is that their awkward/clunky world seems like a normal world.

If you’re lucky enough to find anything in life that gives you five seconds, let alone an hour, of relief from life, you should try to do it forever.

When artists get very big, they kind of forget that that’s why they got big.

Anyone who is awake and aware knows that these quote-unquote bathroom bills or any legislation discriminating against LGBTQ citizens is horrible.

Singles, whatever. But selling a million albums feels like an impossible thing to do.

I love working with women.

I’m a part of your life. You might not know it, but I am.

You can look at someone and get to know their music and say, ‘This is someone who I want to work with.’

In this business, it’s important to constantly do things that you don’t know how to do. I love touring and making records, but I’ve learned how to do that, so sometimes you just have to dive in and try it.

When I started playing in bands, we had to be apologetic for what we did. We had to be apologetic because the mainstream was so bad.

That’s what is incredible about human beings, is the choice to keep going.

Once you understand that listeners want to be challenged, then you also understand that you can’t take shortcuts.

All of the guys I know from Jersey held onto this feeling of, ‘We’re always just working.’

What could be better than working with people you love?

People identify with other people for different reasons, and I personally am really comfortable around lesbians because, in some ways, we view women the same way.

I think that some of the most amazing places to be or to grow up are the places right outside of great cities, because you’re sort of constantly in this suspended state of, like, looking inside the window, wanting to be in the party. I think it breeds good feelings.

I grew up on Raffi. That was my first impression of what a rock star was.

I’ve ended up on some website list or some other list for super right-wing people. They’ve been tweeting some pretty rude stuff at me, so I think there’s a sect of America out there that doesn’t like certain opinions and can really take their claws out when they don’t like what you’re saying.

It just seems like the most fun thing in the world. I’ve never met people who have kids who haven‘t looked me in the eye and been like, ‘It’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened.’

It’s a really natural thing: The people closest in your life are the people you want the first opinions from. At the end of the day, if you’re not trying to impress those people first, then I think there’s something wrong there.

I think it’s all about making records when you’re inspired to make them.

I just don’t think it’s good to be around too much creative energy other than your own.

I think men are, like, repulsive, and I prefer being in a room with women. I think they’re often just more interesting.

I feel like I missed a whole period of my childhood because I had a bunch of stressful things happen to me when I was like 17, 18, when people usually feel the most free in life, like going to college and like anything is possible.

I’m gonna make my records, whether I release them as Bleachers or something else.

I have my cousin‘s jacket from when he was at war in Iraq. He never came home. It’s incredible to have something that is so personal but that I also feel relatively comfortable wearing.

There’s nothing more adult than being ripped away from friends and family, you know? Having to manage a life when you’re not fully there, manage a life when you don’t make a lot of money. It’s very adult.

What sets ‘Some Nights‘ apart from anything we’ve ever done is the hip-hop influence. Not so much the actual sound of hip-hop, but more the vibrato and the artistry that comes with it. Right now, the artists that seem to be pushing to be the greatest artists and are trying to change the world are hip-hop artists.

Human rights, no matter whom they affect, are something that should matter to all of us. It’s always been a part of my life.

I’ve worked so hard for so long, and everyone’s reaction has made me feel like… almost like they trust me, which is just a wonderful feeling. It pushes me to write things better and better.

If you’re in a conversation with me, the last thing I’ll probably say when I’m walking away is, ‘Thank you and sorry.’

Stepping away from Fun. was both exciting and terrifying.