‘I’d rather live through something publicly than escape it privately’: Jack Antonoff on survivor’s guilt and still singing love songs after his breakup

Whether he’s playing the role of soul-baring artist or starry producer, the Bleachers frontman strives to keep his integrity intact. He weighs in on Ed Sheeran, his love of working on ‘high-stakes’ albums and why he’s standing by the songs about his marriage Sitting in the restaurant of a Denver hotel, in the middle of a US tour with his band Bleachers, Jack Antonoff shrugs.

“There’s this intense need to figure me out,” he frowns, “and I don’t really know where it comes from, because I keep explaining all of it. ” He has a point. For the last 12 years, Bleachers have released a succession of albums packed with Antonoff’s strikingly personal and frank songs. Being strikingly personal and frank was the whole point. Antonoff had previously been guitarist in Fun, a…