Bleachers have returned with fellow New Jerseyan Bruce Springsteen for the new single “Chinatown.”
Directed by Carlotta Kohl, the video for the song features Antonoff wearing a shirt that says “Welcome to New Jersey, now go home.” Springsteen appears near the three-minute mark as the duo ride off in a Cadillac down the highway. “I wanna find tomorrow/Yeah I wanna find tomorrow with you baby,” they sing in unison.
In addition, the band also dropped the single “45.” Both songs will be included on an upcoming album slated for 2021.
“‘Chinatown’ starts in NYC and travels to New Jersey,” Antonoff said in a statement. “That pull back to the place I am from mixed with terror of falling in love again. Having to show your cards to someone and the shock when you see them for yourself. Thinking you know yourself and where you are from ….having to see yourself through somebody who you want to stay.”
“I started to write this song with these ideas ringing in my head,” he continued. “To further understand who you are pushes you to further understand where you are from and what that looks and sounds like. There are pieces in that that are worth carrying forever and pieces worth letting die. ‘Chinatown’ and ’45’ are both the story of this — ‘Chinatown’ through someone else, ’45’ through the mirror. As for Bruce, it’s the honor of a lifetime to be joined by him. He is the artist who showed me that the sound of the place I am from has value and that there is a spirit here that needs to be taken all over the world.”
Bleachers’ new album follows 2017’s Gone Now. Antonoff has spent the last few years as a producer, contributing to Taylor Swift’s Folklore and the Chicks’ Gaslighter. He produced Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! as well as her upcoming LP Chemtrails Over the Country Club.
From Rolling Stone US
