Lena Dunham Directs Video for Jack Antonoff’s Solo Project, Bleachers
Breakups are never fun, especially when they happen first thing in the morning. And when your job as a therapist is to help other people fix their problems when you can’t even seem to figure out your own, it’s even worse. Such is the painfully hilarious setup Lena Dunham crafts for the video to “I Wanna Get Better,” the first single from Bleachers singer (and Dunham’s boyfriend) Jack Antonoff.
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After being dumped before breakfast, Antonoff heads to work, where the song’s lyrics are lip-synced by his cadre of increasingly bizarre clients (though not before he spills coffee on his crotch): There’s the snotty teen, the out of control 20-something, the crazed housewife, the neurotic type-A businessman and the loveless couple (one half of which is played by Retta, a.k.a Donna from Parks and Recreation).
While the focus is Antonoff’s blistering pop number, Dunham gets a chance to throw in some of her signature humor as well, from the clip’s opening line – “Roxy, your ketchup toast is ready!” – to the dogs the 20-something’s parents give her each time she has an abortion to Retta’s closing response to her husband’s excuse that he just got out of a coma: “Are you gonna keep using that?” When none of Antonoff’s psychologically sanctioned solutions work, the one true fix presents itself when he imagines a bombastic closing scene where he bashes out the song’s final chorus backed by his clients.
Bleachers’ debut album is scheduled to hit shelves sometime this spring, though Antonoff already has a handful of live dates lined up in the coming months, including sets at New York’s Governor’s Ball and the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware.
“I see the live show like an E Street Band with synths,” Antonoff recently told Rolling Stone. “Everyone will probably have synths and live drums and I want it to be a playground of all those things. The media jerk reaction is ‘It’s just a side project.’ One of the quickest ways to get rid of that is to go out and tour. I didn’t make the album so i could put it out and forget about it. It’s just the beginning.”