Taylor Swift has collaborated with several songwriters, but some of her most iconic hits have come from working with Jack Antonoff. The Bleachers singer rose to prominence as a member of the indie pop band Fun. They had several hits before Antonoff branched out into writing music with pop artists like Swift and Sara Bareilles. Antonoff co-wrote Bareilles's 2013 hit song "Brave" and released his first song with Swift in the same year. "Sweeter Than Fiction" was a collaboration for the film One Chance and earned Swift her second Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song.
While Max Martin and Shellback heavily influenced Taylor Swift's transition to pop, Antonoff brought a fresh sound to the pop music industry. His use of 80s-inspired synths changed the game, earning him the Grammy for Producer of the Year three years in a row. Including bonus tracks and vault tracks from 1989 (Taylor's Version), Antonoff co-wrote and co-produced seven songs on the album. He also co-produced a track Swift wrote with Diane Warren. With the album, the two cemented themselves as a master duo who'd continue to work together on Swift's next six albums.
The following tracks are ranked according to various factors. The most notable in this ranking, however, is fan reception. These 10 tracks are the ones that fans of Swift can't get enough of, mostly because of the writing and production by Swift and Antonoff that make them so uniquely them. Here are their 10 best collaborations, ranked.
10 Anti-Hero
Midnights (2022)
When it was time to release Midnights, Taylor Swift left her folklore and evermore cabin to reclaim her crown as the pop princess. Proving she was still bejeweled, Swift released "Anti Hero," the first single off Midnights and the first pop song from Swift in three years. With clever lyrics like "Did you hear my covert narcissism / I disguised as altruism like some kind of congressman?" Swift and Antonoff proved they still had a zest for pop. The world approved of the collaboration as the song became Swift's biggest hit, spending eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
9 Death By A Thousand Cuts
Lover (2019)
Upon the release of Lover, Swift promised her fans that she went to "bridge city," on several of the songs. The singer meant that she put her all into the bridges of these tracks, similar to her older music, like 2012's "All Too Well." "Death By A Thousand Cuts" is one of the songs with an incredible bridge. The song chronicles a breakup where the narrator can't move on from their relationship even though it's long gone. The inspiration came when Swift was watching the Netflix film Someone Great, a movie about someone mourning the end of their relationship.
My heart, my hips, my body, my love
Trying to find a part of me that you didn't touch
Gave up on me like I was a bad drug
Now I'm searching for signs in a haunted club
Our songs, our films, united we stand
Our country, guess it was a lawless land
Quiet my fears with the touch of your hand
Paper cut stings from our paper thin plans
Swift itted that after seeing the film, she kept having nightmares about her relationship coming to an end, and she coped by writing it into a song with Jack Antonoff. Together, they crafted powerful lyrics like "I look through the windows of this love / Even though we boarded them up." Antonoff and Swift also produced the track, creating a guitar and keyboard-heavy sound that played into the devastation of the lyrics. While it didn't make the Eras Tour setlist, Swift did sing it as a surprise song, which made it to the Eras Tour release on Disney+.
8 Guilty As Sin?
The Tortured Poets Department (2024)
Once again, Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff proved they're lyrical geniuses with their work on "Guilty as Sin?" from The Tortured Poets Department. The artists seem to have built strong trust with each other throughout the years, as Swift has written some of her most honest work with Antonoff. "Guilty as Sin?" is a prime example of this bond. Swift sings about a relationship that has gone stale, causing her to fantasize about being with someone from her past instead. That's not easy to it, but with Antonoff, Swift was able to get all her feelings out on paper.
Every Taylor Swift Album In Release Order (And Which Are Taylor's Versions)
The Taylor Swift album release order was complicated by the onset of her Taylor's Version series, but it represents the artist reclaiming her legacy.
"This cage was once just fine," Swift sings of her relationship before confessing she's seeing visions of herself with another man. Once again, Swift and Antonoff's work on the bridge really sells the song as one of their best collaborations. While it was never a single, it did debut at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts as a part of Swift's chart domination when TTPD was released.
7 Gold Rush
evermore (2020)
For evermore, Taylor Swift mainly worked with The National's Aaron Dessner. However, she co-wrote a few songs with Antonoff, one of them being "gold rush." Together, the two wrote about a relationship where the narrator is in awe of their love interest, comparing their intense feelings to a gold rush. The narrator has this person on a pedestal, as Swift has had many of her songs' subjects throughout her career. It feels like a call back to her earlier music, like the songs she wrote on her debut album and Fearless about high school crushes who didn't reciprocate her feelings.
"Gold Rush" encapsulates what the folklore and evermore albums were all about: Swift diving into her most mystical and poetic writing. Swift and Antonoff opened and closed the song with the same lyrics: "Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on water so inviting I almost jump in." This brings the song full-circle, certifying its place as one of their best collaborations.
6 False God
Lover (2019)
"False God" was Swift's first experiment with a jazzier sound. The song, also co-produced by Jack Antonoff, opens with a saxophone before leaning into a more R&B sound. It diverged from the mostly bubble-gum pop songs on Lover but still stayed true to the album's overall theme. In the song, Swift sings about worshiping her relationship as a false god, since followers of certain religions are meant to worship only the one true God. Swift and Antonoff created something that contrasts a lot of Swift's other work and allowed her to expand creatively outside of her normal style.
5 You're On Your Own, Kid
Midnights (2022)
"You're On Your Own, Kid" became the anthem of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. Fans took the lyrics about friendship bracelets and turned bracelet trading into an international pre-show ritual. However, Swift and Antonoff created other compelling lyrics in the song, making it one of Swift's best track 5s on an album. The song chronicles Swift's life experiences, from growing up and not fitting in at school to becoming the most popular singer on the planet. Swift grapples with unrequited love, realizing she's not the only one who wants to be a famous singer, and the perils of fame.
What's Taylor Swift Doing Next Now That The Eras Tour Is Over?
After 149 shows played over the course of nearly two full years, Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour has officially come to an end. What's next for Swift?
In the end, she realizes that everything she's gone through has brought her to where she is today. "You've got no reason to be afraid," Swift sings, reassuring herself and her fans that everything will be okay. Not only did Antonoff and Swift's Midnights collab become the national anthem of the Eras Tour, but it also touched another famous singer-songwriter. After the death of Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks mentioned she always felt like she was on her own in the world with only McVie as an ally. She then thanked Swift for releasing the song.
4 Out Of The Woods
1989 (2014)
"Out of The Woods" is the first song on the 1989 tracklist that lists Jack Antonoff as a co-writer, giving listeners a taste of what the two would continue to produce for years to come. During a 2015 appearance at the Grammy Museum, Taylor Swift explained that she wrote "Out of the Woods" about a relationship where the main feeling she experienced was anxiety. Most of Swift's relationships turned into media storms due to her celebrity status and the fame levels of her partners. Since she and her partner were so young, it was hard to handle the negative attention.
when you hit the brakes too soon?
Twenty stitches in a hospital room
When you started crying, baby, I did too
But when the sun came up, I was looking at you
She and Antonoff worked these anxiety levels into a song that hears Swift practically begging her partner to confirm they're finally in the clear. Unfortunately, this confirmation never comes, and the chaos continues. The chorus is repetitive, with Swift wondering over and over again, "are we out of the woods yet....are we in the clear yet?" However, she gets her point across. She felt unsettled and unsafe in the chaos of the relationship and needed constant reassurance that things would be okay. This storytelling, layered over incredible production, makes it one of their best collaborations.
3 August
folklore (2020)
A fan favorite that comes around again every year when summer concludes is "august" off of folklore. It's part of a Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions.
Antonoff described working with Swift as "a weird experience," meant as a compliment, which Swift found comical. The singer-songwriter explained that she doesn't see the girl in "august" as bad and believes it's a myth that some villain can come and steal someone's man. Instead, she believes everyone has feelings and desires to be loved. "August" was her and Antonoff's way of expressing this. It also went on to be a fan-favorite track, which made the folklore set at the Eras Tour. This undeniably makes it a top 3 track for the iconic duo.
2 Cruel Summer
Lover (2019)
"Cruel Summer" went #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts in 2023, four years after its release. The song might have hit #1 sooner if it hadn't been for the COVID-19 pandemic, causing Swift to cancel her Lover Fest summer 2020 tour. However, its later success showcased its longevity and just how much of an impact it made on Swift's fanbase. After a brief performance of "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince" at The Eras Tour, Swift transitioned into "Cruel Summer," making it the first full song she performed at the show.
Every Song In Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (& Which Were Cut)
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie captures most of the artist's record-breaking three-hour concert, all three film versions featuring over 40 songs.
The song's production sounds like the brilliant synth-pop that Swift and Antonoff have grown accustomed to making. However, the lyrics, like the song's opening, "fever dream high in the quiet of the night / You know that I caught it," give the song the extra oomph left out of Swift's other pop hits. "Shake It Off" and "ME!" followed the structure of a stereotypical pop song with repetitive and underwhelming lyrics. "Cruel Summer" proved that Swift and Antonoff are such a dynamic duo because they can take a catchy beat and match it with clever lyrics, resulting in a pop masterpiece.
1 Getaway Car
Reputation (2017)
If there's one song fans have lovingly harassed Swift over as much as they did with "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)," it's "Getaway Car." The song is arguably the strongest lyrically on Swift's Reputation album but was never released as a single. Fans have harped on the lack of a "Getaway Car" music video for years, with one fan asking Swift in person in 2019 why there was no video. Luckily, Swift performed the track at the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018 and brought Jack Antonoff out twice at the Eras Tour to perform it as a surprise song.
X marks the spot
Where we fell apart
He poisoned the well
I was lying to myself
Though no music video was ever released, Swift did give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the song. The most popular clip of the footage was when Swift and Antonoff crafted the iconic "Getaway Car" post-bridge verse. "I'm in a getaway car / I left you in the motel bar /P ut the money in a bag, and I stole the keys / That was the last time you ever saw me," they yelled in excitement. The track remains their best work and one of the most appreciated songs Taylor Swift has created with Jack Antonoff.