Earlier this month, Jack Antonoff won Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical at the 2023 Grammys. He became the first producer to claim the category in back-to-back years since Greg Kurstin did so in 2017-18.
The impressive feat — nor all of his Taylor Swift equity — didn’t protect him from savage reactions to his and Bleachers’ cover of The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night,” posted by @BeatlesEarth on Tuesday, February 21.
"A Hard Day's Night" Beatles cover by @jackantonoff and @bleachersmusic pic.twitter.com/9ZehC14DfT
— The Beatles Earth (@BeatlesEarth) February 21, 2023
The two-minute video finds Antonoff and his bandmates on a moving bus while performing the 1964 title track of The Beatles’ multi-platinum-certified album, including a saxophone solo.
Most everybody on the internet was less than impressed, to say the least. Music journalist Gita Jackson tweeted, “Jack Antonoff is my enemy.”
Jack Antonoff is my enemy https://t.co/CsZGZyyKaD
— tina snow aegyo (@xoxogossipgita) February 22, 2023
Patrick Lyons echoed Jackson. “The past week is a perfect microcosm of the Jack Antonoff experience: he does incredible work on [Lana Del Rey’s] “a&w” and barely gets praised for it, then drops the most cringe Beatles cover in history and people can’t stop talking about him,” Lyons tweeted.
Another Twitter user asserted possibly the most cutting insult one can receive: “Jack Antonoff is doing a poor job of convincing me he doesn’t have zero sauce.”
the past week is a perfect microcosm of the jack antonoff experience: he does incredible work on "a&w" and barely gets praised for it, then drops the most cringe beatles cover in history and people can't stop talking about him
— Patrick Lyons (@p_lyons_) February 23, 2023
Jack Antonoff is doing a poor job of convincing me he doesn't have zero sauce https://t.co/nRM3BEd1vZ
— Charlie (@charliejuststop) February 22, 2023
Ouch. Let’s hope, for Jack’s sake, he stays off of Twitter. But the rest of you can view some of the reactions below.
https://twitter.com/jonkolnoski/status/1628507341187588096?s=20
They are getting cooked in the quote tweets. https://t.co/r5I43F1hEa
— Zito (@_Zeets) February 22, 2023
According to https://t.co/g8RPYsZf5k, "A Hard Day's Night" has been covered officially 176 times. This is, at least, the 176th-best rendition.
— Robert (@librarianhours) February 22, 2023
is this a bit
— Matt (@cinemattograph) February 22, 2023
the haters are not taking into account how hard it is to play in a moving vehicle. jack really said "get in the van" (punk reference)
— jos (@josiahhughes) February 22, 2023
— GREENZO.bsky.social (@schmuyle) February 22, 2023
Hey, music expert here. 👋This is actually better than the original version, scientifically. It is due to a phonic phenomenon called “resonant vibranium harmony.” It tricks our ears into hearing the angelic. Thank you, Jack, for LITERALLY making the music of the gods. 🙏
— ryan kushner (@ryanjkushner) February 22, 2023
— You Gotta Give (@you_gotta_give) February 22, 2023
(And I generally like Bleachers) https://t.co/myX65p6hbq pic.twitter.com/cQoB5jBWnN
— Brigit (@heikeha) February 23, 2023
i choose to believe they’re in a https://t.co/XeTMjjx6i5 commercial https://t.co/KFqsEc5RSB
— the mailbox was haldeman (@IntroLemon) February 22, 2023
https://twitter.com/KnabeWolf/status/1628517203019706368?s=20
I have never seen a tweet with this many hidden comments before https://t.co/SBqpcnQcbY
— Foucault's Pudendum (@kaitave_) February 22, 2023
worse than john lennon getting shot https://t.co/VgIiMhdSeR
— jillkrajewski.bsky.social (@JillKrajewski) February 22, 2023
This is soooo bad https://t.co/bqT9uUpnXH
— Paul Blest (@pblest) February 22, 2023
https://twitter.com/Lee_Jameson/status/1628498761080258560?s=20
Sounds so off key, drab and boring. The original version is so much better than this. https://t.co/GQeehMQR39 pic.twitter.com/uOauQtgSll
— Thomas Stansfield (@NWTom25) February 22, 2023
