Antonoff Quotes & Sayings

I first met Taylor Swift at an awards show, which is a pretty easy place to suss out who is cool. Right off the bat I was like, This is a person I want to know. Just because she's a very famous person doesn't mean she doesn't exist outside of that space. She's wonderful and special and treats me really nicely and we have a great, mature relationship. She's on a short list of people like that for me. — Jack Antonoff

Your most precious memories will focus on those you loved, those who loved you, and what you did together in the service of the Lord. — James C. Dobson

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. — Jack Antonoff

'Glee' is one of the very few mainstream outlets that is giving a voice to communities of people that don't necessarily have a loud voice, specifically the gay community. It gives a really positive and forward statement. — Jack Antonoff

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. — Jack Antonoff

The same way all the people I love factor in - my parents, my sister, my girlfriend [Lena Dunham], my best friend, all the people I love are always right there. I don't have a lot of people in my life, but there's a small group of people that I don't like to do things without. — Jack Antonoff

I put a bullet where I shoulda put a helmet. — Jack Antonoff

I think that everyone at any age should ask themselves, 'where do I want to be today, where do I want to be tomorrow, and where do I want to be in a hundred years?' We all have clear answers to those questions. We only have so much time. It's a real shame if we don't spend our lives trying to do that. — Jack Antonoff

So many boys and girls talk the same way, listen to the same music, look the same. If I'm out, I'll notice the person who looks different before I notice the person who's, 'really hot.' — Jack Antonoff

Everyone wants to get better. You go through life, you want to shift and change and get better. No one ever says, "I'm better." They say, "I wanna get better." — Jack Antonoff

Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that color never can. — Jack Antonoff

It is music that speaks to the deepest reaches of your soul, and you are lifted higher, ever higher, by the adagio, in my opinion more so even than in any of the masses that Beethoven composed. — Dean Koontz

You feel an affinity with younger actors, because, you know, it's a very insecure job. And it can be a long time before you feel like, you know, things might be all right. — Ben Mendelsohn

Of course, the majority of us would speak up in the face of outrageous bigotry, but do we speak up in a social situation when someone casually refers to something as 'gay'? If we don't, we are standing with the homophobes whom we are quietly fighting. — Jack Antonoff

We change when the pain to change is less than the pain to remain as we are. — Ed Foreman

Originality is a myth perpetuated by the naive, the romantic, and the unscrupulous. — Tom Robbins

It probably all started with The Beatles, and then I guess it goes out from there. Springsteen ... Fleetwood Mac ... I mean, that's all so inherent in us that when we're making records now, we take a lot from the artists who are around us. — Jack Antonoff

I think fans get bored of the pre-roll. I also think they don't care about the pre-roll, they just want the album. — Jack Antonoff

If I was a supervillain, I'd create this universal, cosmic rule where every time an old, shitty, right-wing white man says something unsavory about a young woman, he would just get the clap immediately. — Jack Antonoff

Usually it seems like either you sacrifice something and a lot of people will pay attention, or you stay true to yourself and appeal to a smaller group of people, but now we've managed to do what we felt was the right thing to do in our heart and had it reach a wide audience. It feels very rare. — Jack Antonoff

I'm really into jeans. It's kind of more for comfort ... So, like, comfort and oversized are really in for me. — Mark Indelicato

I don't ever want to do anything that's obvious, and I also want to find ways to do things that are extremely new and exciting and can make sense in bizarre ways. I always want things to make sense in really bizarre ways. — Jack Antonoff

As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights. — Jack Antonoff

This is the miracle of all miracles - when life sacrifices itself to become something greater. When it awakens to its potential and rises in power. That is true magic. — Seth Adam Smith

It is my secrecy which makes you unhappy, my evasions, my silences. And so I have found a solution. Whenever you get desperate with my mysteries, my ambiguities, here is a set of Chinese puzzle boxes. You have always said that I was myself a Chinese puzzle box. When you are in the mood and I baffle your love of confidences, your love of openness, your love of sharing experiences, then open one of the boxes. And in it you will find a story, a story about me and my life. Do you like this idea? Do you think it will help us to live together? — Anais Nin

My girlfriend is a fashion designer. She has her own company called Rachel Antonoff. She is doing a collaboration with Urban Outfitters right now, a shoe collaboration with Bass. She sells to Barneys, stuff like that. — Nate Ruess

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. — Jack Antonoff

I'll say about Fueled By Ramen is, I don't know what anyone else's experience has been, but we signed to them as Fun. We already had a fanbase, we already had music out there so when they signed us they were signing our vision. I always think it's so weird when people think that Fueled By Raman are trying to change us or mould us into something else, as we weren't a bunch of kids playing in a garage who joined a label and then collectively worked on a vision, like, they signed us with the intention of letting us be Fun. — Jack Antonoff

You have to look at the body of work you're doing and then figure out the best way for people to digest it. You want people to come in and listen to all of it and understand the entire project. I think it's bad when everyone's like, "This is how you have to do it." — Jack Antonoff

I'm obsessed with beards. First of all, beards make you look like more of an animal. Second, I kind of like biting beards; it's a pastime of mine. — Kesha

Social paralysis is strong and stands firmly in the way of change on the ground level. As allies, we have to prepare ourselves to step into the fire when necessary, even - and especially - when said fire is merely a still-lit cigarette tossed carelessly onto the street. — Jack Antonoff

I think what's cool about about going on a co-headline tour is everyone's bringing a huge show, so it's not like opening band, opening band, then here's the big show. It's like two big shows. — Jack Antonoff

God, just shoot me the day I start making music you can just put on in the car and have a conversation over it. — Jack Antonoff