Jack Antonoff has revealed the source of inspiration behind his new song ‘Hey Joe’, following Taylor Swift fans speculating that it was written about the singer’s ex.
The new song is taken from Antonoff’s self-titled album with Bleachers, which is set to arrive next year. However, upon sharing the title of the new track, fans have been quick to assume who the lyrics have been inspired by.
The artist – who was recently nominated for a Producer of the Year Grammy Award – has worked alongside Taylor Swift for years, and has been credited as co-producer on some of her most famous songs, including chart-topping single ‘Anti-Hero’. However, because of their relationship, some fans began theorising that the song was written about Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
Swift was in a relationship with the Alwyn until earlier this year when the couple split after more than six years together.
“There’s a community of people that will be pretty disappointed when they find out it’s a meditation on my father and his friends walking the Ho Chi Minh trail in their ‘60s,” Antonoff told The Guardian in a new interview, putting the rumours to rest.
Jack Antonoff and Evan Smith of Bleachers perform during the 2023 Boston Calling Music Festival at Harvard Athletic Complex on May 28, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. CREDIT: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
He also went on to recall how the album touches on his feelings of grief – particularly that of losing his younger sister Sarah to brain cancer in 2001 when she was aged just 13, and the death of his cousin who was fighting in the Iraq war.
“It was about a character – myself, when I was sort of stuck – who wants to find something outside of this living-in-tribute, where every move in one’s life is for the person who can’t be here,” he told the outlet about what inspired the album. “ [I wrote] songs that were extremely present. I started to see my writing not beyond, but in addition to, the lens of grief.”
“The truth is, when you make records, you’re not thinking about it at all – because if you are, you know what it is and it’s not interesting. All of the songs that I’ve ever written, they feel like something that scares me and is really deep, and I’m figuring it out as I’m doing it.”
Bleachers’ self-titled album is due for release on March 8 via Dirty Hit. You can pre-order it here.
The new release will be the band’s first full-length album since ‘Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night’, which arrived back in 2021. In a four-star review, NME praised the album for leaving a “lingering sensation”, which is a “testament to the power of Antonoff’s immersive songwriting”.
More recently, however, Bleachers shared their latest single ‘Alma Mater’, which was co-written by Lana Del Rey and features her vocals throughout.
It marked the second track to be released from Antonoff and Co.’s forthcoming album, following the lead single ‘Modern Girl‘, which arrived in September.
As for Taylor Swift, the singer has continued the international shows of her mammoth ‘Eras’ tour over the past few months, following the completion of the US leg of shows.
Earlier this week, she played ‘Bigger Than The Whole Sky’ live for the first time during a show in Rio de Janeiro, and later went on to postpone the second of three shows in the city due to the extreme heat.
The first date of the tour in Brazil was hit by tragedy too, as a fan in attendance died before the show took place after collapsing from the extreme heat.
The pop star wrote on Instagram of being “devastated” by the news, adding: “I can’t believe I’m writing these words but it is with shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show. I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it. I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends.”
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