Jack Antonoff Kicks Off New Jersey Conversation Series With Ezra Koenig

Jack Antonoff will honor his native state with a new conversation series. The musician and producer kicked off the first episode with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

The segment features Antonoff and Koening discussing their home state and the impact The Sopranos had on it. “That show belongs to humanity,” Koening says. “It’s an important work of art, it belongs to everybody. But when I think about something that really belongs to the Tri-state area, it’s the opening credits. I think it’s maybe one of the best opening sequences of all time.”

“I’m from a strange place,” Antonoff said in a statement. “I want to understand it and why I sound like it. Why all the hope and pain that New Jersey carries is so present with me. The way we hug the city. How we are so close but light-years away. Living in that big shadow. A punch line to some, Zion to others.”

Last week, Bleachers returned with two new singles: “45” and “Chinatown” featuring Bruce Springsteen. The latter featured a video of Antonoff and the Boss driving around in a Cadillac. Both songs will be included on an upcoming album due out next year — their first since 2017’s Gone Now.