Yes, Bleachers are back folks, and they’re ready to blow us away.
Jack Antonoff is pretty hecking talented, that’s an established fact. He has been busy working on Lorde’s highly anticipated sophomore record for the past while, and in the meantime he’s been working on the sophomore album of his own musical project, Bleachers, as well. I genuinely enjoyed “Strange Desire” (You’re Still A Mystery, anyone?) and I am excited to see what the new album brings.
“Don’t Take the Money” is the first single off the album “Gone Now”. It’s co-written by Lorde one late night in the studio, and she provides vocal support to the track. It’s an explosive track, and bright and earnest and sad in the best way possible. It’s like mid-morning sunshine, kind of delicate with the kind of lightness that permeates through your entire body. He explains in his Instagram post debuting the track, that the song is not really about money, but rather is a metaphor.
Bleachers‘ “Don’t Take The Money” is “about following a light. a gut feeling. not following a deep gut feeling destroys your art and the people around you.”
“Don’t Take The Money” is specifically about his relationship and how despite trying to push you and your partner away and trying to break it all away, but it just lands in clarity and heaven. It’s all good, and we need to trust in that.
Being about his relationship, it makes sense that the music video for “Don’t Take The Money” is directed by Antonoff’s long time girlfriend, Lena Dunham. It has Antonoff in an ornate and gilded Napoleon-esque suit getting prepared for a marriage presided by ‘Arrested Development’’s Alia Shawkat. Shawkat starts the video off by expressing her doubts in the marriage to come, but he decides to carry through with it anyway. The wedding is attended by mostly flamingo pink mannequins and the decorations are as bright and shiny as both his uniform and his song. The wedding is interrupted by his bride’s ex-lover and it ends up with Antonoff getting punched a little bit (has anyone noticed Jack keeps getting beat up in his videos). The cute little lesbian lovers end up running off together, leaving Jack sprawled on the floor, bruised and watching them run off (SORRY, probably should’ve mentioned spoiler alert!).
It’s a pretty rad video and the song’s really great. You can honestly tell how genuine Jack Antonoff is and it really translates into his music. Bleachers is a really great band that has music that carries a wide range of emotions and I am really excited to see what the new album has to offer.
