In-demand singer, songwriter and producer Jack Antonoff opens up to Tracy Smith about channeling grief into songwriting and doubting the magnitude of his success in an interview for CBS SUNDAY MORNING to be broadcast Sunday, July 9 (9:00 AM ET) on the CBS Television Network.
Currently the heart of the indie group Bleachers, Antonoff wrote some of the biggest hits for his former group Fun, including the mega-hit "We Are Young," and has produced major hits for Lorde,
Taylor Swift and others. Many - though not all - of his songs are rooted in grief stemming from the death of his younger sister to cancer. Indeed, one of the songs off his new album is titled "Everybody Lost Somebody."
"Everybody has this sack their carrying," Antonoff tells Smith. "Some are heavier. Some are lighter. But no one doesn't have it. And if you think someone doesn't have it, they have a bigger one than you imagine."
He tells Smith he creates music he likes and lets the public decide whether it works or not. So far, listeners are tuning in to his work. But Antonoff still can't believe he's performing to sold-out shows.
"It's not easy because even like right now I have this feeling like, 'Are they going to come?'" Antonoff tells Smith before heading on stage to a packed house at
Webster Hall in New York City. "But it's sold out, and then I think to myself, what if there's this freak thing where half the audience has an emergency and
THE ROOM is thin?"
That's not happening any time soon, which makes Antonoff the "go-to" guy for many of his A-list fellow performers hoping he'll share some of his magic.
"A lot of women like to work with him because he's one of the few guys in the entertainment industry who comes in with no agenda, no sleaze," says Antonoff's long-time girlfriend,
Lena Dunham. "He's there just to make art, and I think people feel that, and they feel safe with him, and so I'm very proud to be able to call someone like that my partner."
CBS SUNDAY MORNING is broadcast Sundays (9:00-10:30 AM ET) on the
CBS Television Network.
Rand Morrison is the executive producer.
Photo courtesy of CBS
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