Jack Antonoff Explained The Inspiration For Bleachers' New Songs "45" And "Chinatown"
Here's everything we know about their new music and upcoming album.
Fellow Bleachers fans, the wait is finally over! This afternoon, the band released two highly anticipated new tracks off its unannounced third LP, which is set to be released in 2021.
We also got some BTS details about the inspiration behind these two new songs straight from Jack Antonoff, whom you might also recognize as the much-loved producer of and cowriter with some of music's biggest stars, like Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey.
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The second new song, "Chinatown," features fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen. The two also filmed a music video for the track, which mixes the comfort and familiarity of a home movie with the contemplative nostalgia of looking back at it when you're all grown up. You can give the video, directed by Carlotta Kohl, a watch below:
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Both new songs feature lines that Antonoff previously teased on Twitter, which undeniably left fans on the edge of their seats. There's this one from "45"...
while you’re praying at the 90s they’re carving up anything that lasts
...and this line from "Chinatown," too:
if we take the sadness out of saturday night i wonder what we’ll be left with.... anything worth a fight?
I can confirm that I will, in fact, have this line stuck in my head for the rest of the week at least.
Bleachers' two new releases are just as refreshingly honest and heartfelt as the rest of their discography. The songs draw inspiration from Antonoff's upbringing, with "Chinatown" in particular starting in New York City and making its way back to his home state of New Jersey.
In a statement about his new music, the four-time Grammy winner described "that pull back to the place I am from mixed with terror of falling in love again," "having to show your cards to someone and the shock when you see them for yourself," "thinking you know yourself and where you are from," and "having to see yourself through somebody who you want to stay" as the ideas he kept in mind while writing the songs.
Also, Antonoff explained that both "45" and "Chinatown" are tales of self-reflection from different perspectives.
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"To further understand who you are pushes you to further understand where you are from and what that looks and sounds like. There are pieces in that that are worth carrying forever and pieces worth letting die. 'Chinatown' and '45' are both the story of this — 'Chinatown' through someone else, '45' through the mirror."
Antonoff said it was "the honor of a lifetime" to work with Springsteen. "He is the artist who showed me that the sound of the place I am from has value and that there is a spirit here that needs to be taken all over the world."
