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Taylor Swift Gushes Over Her 1st Song With Jack Antonoff on October 29, 2023 at 7:55 pm Us Weekly

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Taylor Swift has had plenty of collaborators over the years, but none of them have stuck quite like Jack Antonoff.

Since their 2012 meeting, the pair have worked together on 10 albums and a few one-off singles — and became best friends in the process. “Sometimes he sits at the piano and we both just start ad-libbing and the song seems to create itself,” Swift told The New York Times in May 2017. “His excitement and exuberance about writing songs is contagious. He’s an absolute joy. That’s why everyone loves him. I personally wouldn’t trust someone who didn’t.”

The feeling is mutual, with Antonoff describing Swift as a trailblazer. “I’ve seen her change the music industry first-hand,” the Bleachers artist told NME in July 2021. “She’s amazing for being a champion, and making things better for the generations to come. She has a long history of rightly exposing some real darkness in the music industry. And I’m personally thankful for it, outside of our friendship and working relationship, just as an artist.”

Their connection outside of music runs deep too — Antonoff was by Swift’s side after her April 2023 split from Joe Alywn, and Swift was on hand when Antonoff wed Margaret Qualley in August 2023.

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Keep scrolling for the complete timeline of Swift and Antonoff’s friendship:

November 2012

Swift and Antonoff first crossed paths at the MTV Europe Music Awards, where they reportedly bonded over their mutual love of the U.K. band Yazoo’s 1982 hit “Only You.” One month later, they saw each other again at the Grammys nomination concert.

Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift at the MTV EMAs 2012. Dave Hogan/MTV 2012/Getty Images for MTV

October 2013

The duo released their first official collaboration: Swift’s single “Sweeter Than Fiction” from the One Chance soundtrack.

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October 2014

Swift released her fifth studio album, 1989. Antonoff produced the songs “Out of the Woods,” “I Wish You Would” and “You Are in Love.” In an Instagram post, Antonoff revealed that his favorite moment of “Out of the Woods” comes at the 2:28 mark. “Will one day write an essay on the different production I used on the song + how much working with taylor on it has meant to me,” he wrote at the time. “She’s a wonderful artist.”

Related: Where Taylor Swift Stands With the ‘Bad Blood’ Music Video Cast Today

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Once upon a time, several eras ago, Taylor Swift assembled a coalition of models, actresses and musicians for the “Bad Blood” music video, which premiered at the Billboard Music Awards in May 2015. Some of the featured stars were Swift’s besties, like her to-this-day ride-or-die Selena Gomez and her who-knows-what-exactly-happened-there former friend Karlie Kloss. Other […]

May 2015

Swift revealed that “You Are in Love” — particularly the line “you’re my best friend” — was inspired by Antonoff’s relationship with then-girlfriend Lena Dunham. “I’ve never had that [in a relationship], so I wrote that song about things that Lena has told me about her and Jack,” Swift told Elle. “That’s just basically stuff she’s told me. And I think that that kind of relationship — God, it sounds like it would just be so beautiful — would also be hard. It would also be mundane at times.” (Antonoff and Dunham split in 2018 after five years together.)

February 2016

The twosome celebrated after 1989 won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. “We wrote and worked on 1989 in the tiniest spaces,” Antonoff wrote via Instagram after the ceremony, alongside a photo of Swift giving him an emotional hug. “A lot of time over voice notes and email — it really encourages me that those small dream like ideas between friends can become album of the year. winning a grammy for records you make the same way you did when u were a kid is important to me.”

Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift attend the 58th Grammy Awards on February 15, 2016. Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS

November 2017

Swift released her sixth studio album, Reputation, which featured production from Antonoff on the tracks “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Getaway Car,” “Dress,” “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” “Call It What You Want” and “New Year’s Day.”

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August 2019

Swift and Antonoff collaborated again on her seventh studio album, Lover, which was her first release after her departure from Big Machine Records. Antonoff produced 11 songs on the LP, including “Cruel Summer,” “The Archer,” “Cornelia Street” and the title track.

July 2020

Swift surprised the world — then hunkered down amid the coronavirus pandemic — with her eighth studio album, Folklore. While the album featured production from new collaborator Aaron Dessner of The National, Antonoff worked on seven tracks, including “Betty” and “August.”

Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift pose onstage for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards broadcast on March 14, 2021. TAS Rights Management 2021 via Getty Images

November 2020

Antonoff starred alongside Swift in the Disney+ special Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, which was about the making of the album.

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December 2020

Swift dropped her second surprise album of the year, Evermore, which again featured production and writing by Antonoff. (He’s credited on “Gold Rush” and “Ivy.”)

March 2021

Folklore won Album of the Year at the Grammys, making Swift the first woman to win that award three times (she also won for Fearless in 2010). “And @taylorswift, from 1989 to here … goddamn. you are the one who let me produce records first,” Antonoff wrote via Instagram after the ceremony. “Before you i just ‘wasn’t a producer’ according to the herbs. i just wasnt let in that room. then i met you, we made out of the woods and you said, ‘that’s the version’ and that changed my life right there.”

Laura Sisk, Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift, Aaron Dessner and Jonathan Low, winners of the Album of the Year award for ‘Folklore,’ pose in the media room during the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on March 14, 2021. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

April 2021

Swift released Fearless (Taylor’s Version), her first rerecorded album from her Big Machine years. Antonoff produced some of the “From the Vault” tracks, including “Mr. Perfectly Fine” and “That’s When.”

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September 2021

Swift posted a TikTok video with Antonoff nodding to their collaboration on “August” from Folklore. “Looks like we ran out of august,” she joked in her caption for the clip, which showed the duo sipping wine on a boat.

@taylorswift

Looks like we ran out of august #august #folklore

♬ august – Taylor Swift

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November 2021

Swift dropped her second rerecorded album, Red (Taylor’s Version), which once again featured Antonoff production on the “From the Vault” tracks — including “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” After the album’s release, Antonoff gushed in an Instagram post that he is “endlessly inspired” by Swift. “Nothing better than taylor … the artist and the person,” he added.

February 2022

Antonoff defended Swift after Blur frontman Damon Albarn claimed that she doesn’t write her own songs. “I don’t care if Damon Albarn or anyone likes or doesn’t like something,” he said during an interview on “The What” podcast. “But to unequivocally make a statement that isn’t true, that you actually have no idea about, and not to get too deep on it? Isn’t that kind of everything that’s wrong with our world at the moment? People talking about s–t that they have no clue about?”

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May 2022

Antonoff credited Swift with kick-starting his career as a producer. “I’d been trying to produce for a while, but there was always some industry herb going, ‘That’s cute, but that’s not your lane,’” he told The New Yorker. “Taylor was the first person with the stature to go, ‘I like the way this sounds, I’m putting it on my album’ — and then, suddenly, I was allowed to be a producer.” (In addition to working with Swift, Antonoff has produced music with Lorde, St. Vincent, Lana Del Rey, The Chicks and Florence + The Machine.)

October 2022

Swift released her 10th studio album, Midnights, which featured Antonoff’s production on every track. Antonoff also made a cameo in the “Bejeweled” music video. “Midnights is a wild ride of an album and I couldn’t be happier that my co pilot on this adventure was @jackantonoff,” Swift wrote via Instagram after the album’s release. “He’s my friend for life (presumptuous I know but I stand by it) and we’ve been making music together for nearly a decade HOWEVER … this is our first album we’ve done with just the two of us as main collaborators.”

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February 2023

The pals hung out at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, where Antonoff took home the trophy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift at the 2023 Grammys. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

May 2023

Antonoff was a special guest during one of Swift’s New Jersey stops on the Eras Tour. The duo teamed up for an acoustic performance of “Getaway Car” during the surprise song portion of the set.

June 2023

Swift was spotted leaving a recording session with Antonoff at NYC’s Electric Lady Studios between dates on her Eras Tour.

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July 2023

Swift released the rerecorded edition of Speak Now, which featured three “From the Vault” tracks produced by Antonoff: “Castles Crumbling,” “I Can See You” and “Timeless.”

Related: Taylor Swift Through the Years

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Are you ready for it? Taylor Swift started writing songs about boys and breakups in the early 2000s, but her talent was soon recognized by music executives who knew she was the real deal. From releasing her first record in 2006 to gracing stages all over the world on her biggest tour yet 12 years […]

August 2023

Swift attended Antonoff’s New Jersey wedding to Qualley and reportedly roasted the newlyweds during a 15-minute toast. That same month, Antonoff reposted a meme about Scooter Braun parting ways with many of his management clients. (Swift decided to rerecord her albums after Braun sold her masters.)

September 2023

Swift gave Antonoff a shout-out during one of her acceptance speeches at the MTV Music Video Awards, calling him one of her “best friends in the world.” She added: “He’s so talented it’s incomprehensible. And I’m so lucky I’ve been making music with him since we worked on an album called 1989. We’ll continue working together till 2089.”

October 2023

Swift released her fourth rerecorded album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which included five “From the Vault” tracks — all of which Antonoff produced. One special edition of the LP on vinyl included “Sweeter than Fiction,” Swift and Antonoff’s first collaboration. The song was originally recorded for the 2013 movie One Chance.

“There you’ll stand ten feet tall, I will say ‘I knew it all along,’” Swift shared alongside several throwback photos of herself and Antonoff via Instagram. “This song has always made me think of my friend Jack. It was the first song we made together and watching him challenge himself and make beautiful art over the years has been the thrill of a lifetime. How can he be 6 years older than me and also somehow still be my precocious young son? We may never know. ‘Sweeter Than Fiction (My Version)”’is now available exclusively at Target on Tangerine vinyl .”

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Taylor Swift has had plenty of collaborators over the years, but none of them have stuck quite like Jack Antonoff. Since their 2012 meeting, the pair have worked together on 10 albums and a few one-off singles — and became best friends in the process. “Sometimes he sits at the piano and we both just 

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Entertainment

California Bans AI Clones from Replacing Real Talent

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California just made a dramatic stand for human creativity, defeating the threat of AI actor clones with a sweeping new law that puts people—not algorithms—back in the Hollywood spotlight. With the stroke of Governor Gavin Newsom’s pen in October 2025, the state has sent a clear message to studios, tech companies, and the world: entertainment’s heart belongs to those who create and perform, not to digital facsimiles.

California Draws a Hard Line: No More AI Clones

For months, the entertainment industry has been divided over the use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking. Studios, lured by promises of cost-cutting and creative flexibility, have invested in software that can mimic an actor’s face, voice, and even emotional range. But for performers, this wave of synthetic reproduction has triggered alarm—encouraged by chilling stories of deepfakes, unauthorized digital doubles, and contracts that let studios reuse a star’s likeness indefinitely, sometimes without pay or approval.

The new California law, anchored by AB 2602 and AB 1836, changes everything:

  • Every contract must explicitly detail how studios can use digital replicas or voice models, preventing once-common “blank check” agreements that overlooked this risk.
  • No one—not studios nor streaming giants—can create or release AI-generated clones of an actor, living or dead, without clear, written consent from the performer or their estate.
  • The law gives families new powers to defend loved ones from posthumous deepfake exploitation, closing painful loopholes that once let virtual versions of late icons appear in new ads, films, or games.

Actors Celebrate a Major Victory

The legislation rides the momentum of the recent SAG-AFTRA strike, where real-life talent demanded control over their own digital destinies. Leaders say these protections will empower artists to negotiate fair contracts and refuse participation in projects that cross ethical lines, restoring dignity and choice in an industry threatened by silent algorithms.

Stars, unions, and advocacy groups are hailing the law as the most robust defense yet against unwanted AI replications.

As one actor put it, “This isn’t just about money—it’s about identity, legacy, and respect for real artists in a synthetic age.”

A New Chapter for the Entertainment Industry

California’s move isn’t just a victory for local talent—it’s a warning shot to studios everywhere. Companies will now be forced to rethink production pipelines, consult legal counsel, and obtain proper clearance before digitally cloning anyone. Global entertainment platforms and tech developers will need to comply if they want to do business in the world’s entertainment capital.

These laws also set a template likely to ripple through other creative fields, from musicians whose voices can be synthesized to writers whose work could be mimicked by generative AI. For now, California performers finally have a powerful shield, ready to fight for the right to shape their own public image.

Conclusion: Human Talent Takes Center Stage

With its no-nonsense ban on AI actor clones, California draws a bold line, championing the work, likeness, and very humanity of its creative stars. It’s a landmark step that forces the entertainment industry to choose: respect real talent, or face real consequences. The age of the consentless digital double is over—human performers remain the true source of Hollywood magic.

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Chaos and Comedy: Darby Kingman’s “Camp Wackapoo: Rise of Glog”

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Darby Kingman’s “Camp Wackapoo: Rise of Glog” redefines summer camp comedy with a wild, energetic story about ambition, chaos, and the joy of embracing the unexpected. The film centers on a relentlessly competitive camp counselor who’s determined to finish first—only to face a motley crew of unruly campers and a summer unlike any other.

As Darby puts it, “Not everything is that deep. It really honestly was to make people laugh. She has all these kids that are not working with her and she’s just losing her mind. It’s crazy, silly, goofy, and it was a blast.”

What started as a simple scene for Darby’s acting reel evolved into a full-fledged film with encouragement from her mentor at Debbie Reynolds Acting School. Darby dove into every role—writing, directing, starring, and meticulously preparing each prop and costume. “Plan and prepare, but also be flexible and ready to be in the moment—that’s when the magic happens,” she advises.

Working with a handpicked cast of her own dance students, Darby built an atmosphere of real teamwork and camaraderie. She credits the “precious” energy of her young cast, her creative director of photography, and the overall spirit of her production team for turning the project into something bigger than herself. Her experience is an inspiring blueprint for indie filmmakers:

“Take initiative and control of your career. You can’t just sit around and wait for somebody to pick you. Figure out what you’re good at and go for it. Create something that brings joy to others.”

Her production motto? “Preparation is key, but you have to be ready to go with the flow—that’s when the magic happens.” Darby’s fearless creativity, focus on collaboration, and love for comedy shine throughout “Camp Wackapoo: Rise of Glog.” It’s more than just a camp satire—it’s a heartfelt testament to hard work, original humor, and leadership from the ground up: “People need to laugh right now. That’s a win.”

Catch “Camp Wackapoo: Rise of Glog” and experience Darby’s infectious energy and comic genius at the Deluxe Theatre on November 1, 2025. Get your tickets now at Houstoncomedyfilmfestival.com.

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Diane Keaton Dies at 79

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The world of film and entertainment is mourning the loss of Diane Keaton, an Oscar-winning actress renowned for her enduring talent, individuality, and influence on generations of performers and fans. Keaton died at the age of 79 in California on Saturday, October 11, 2025, her family confirmed. Details remain private, with her family requesting privacy as they grieve this profound loss.

A Distinctive Talent

Diane Keaton rose to fame in the 1970s through a series of memorable roles, most notably as Kay Adams in “The Godfather” trilogy and as the quirky, unforgettable lead in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her performances in films like “The First Wives Club,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” and the “Book Club” series solidified her reputation as an actress with unique comedic timing and dramatic depth. Keaton was celebrated not only for her artistry but also for her androgynous fashion sense, characterized by menswear-inspired looks, hats, and an easy, effortless style that influenced generations.

Legacy and Tributes

Following the news of her passing, tributes poured in from Hollywood and beyond. Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Jane Fonda were among the countless stars who expressed devastation and admiration for Keaton’s incomparable legacy. Hawn recalled their friendship and collaborations, writing: “Diane, we aren’t ready to lose you…you stole the hearts of the world and shared your genius with millions”. Midler echoed the sentiment, praising Keaton as “brilliant, beautiful, extraordinary” and a truly original presence in Hollywood.

Private Struggles and Final Months

Though fiercely independent and known for her openness, Keaton kept her declining health private in her final months. Friends and neighbors noticed her retreat from public life and social media, and she was recently seen less often in her Brentwood neighborhood. In the past, Keaton candidly discussed her ongoing battles with skin cancer and bulimia, openly advocating for personal health and authenticity.

Remembering Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton leaves behind a legacy defined by her fearless performances, unique style, and enduring influence on the arts. She is survived by her two children, Dexter and Duke. As Hollywood and her global fanbase mourn, her pioneering spirit and unmistakable voice will continue to inspire generations.

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