Today, we look at how Jack Antonoff nicely showed off his support for trans women over the shit they go through in the new Bleachers song, “Dirty Wedding Dress.”
Knowledge Waits is a feature where I just share some bit of pop culture history that interests me that doesn’t quite fit into the other features.
Jack Antonoff’s band, Bleachers, has released its second single ahead of its upcoming fifth studio album, and it is called “Dirty Wedding Dress.”
As Antonoff himself noted to the Bleachers mailing list, the song is about how annoyed he was at the hordes of people who tried to get involved in his wedding last year to actor Margaret Qualley, mostly because Antonoff has lots of famous friends, including Taylor Swift, and “Swifties” were obviously the main driving force behind the crowds of people:
here’s the story. i got married in the town i spent every summer in since i was born. was the best day of my life. that simple. still spend most of my time down here at the jersey shore. as i say in the song “it’s nice to feel special, it’s nice to have a think, it’s nice to get a break from that cynical beat.” you come down here and people are like, “you do music?? my nephew does too! have you seen the last waltz!? that’s a good one.” the city is nice but it’s also important to get away from too many people who have the inside baseball context of you. so we got married here and outside the wedding got swarmed with herbs. not bleachers people, not even real fans of anyone who was at the wedding, just run of the mill weekender dipshits coming to stare at people. people who truly care about the work i make or anyone i make the work with are the best people. they’re interested and respectful. they wanna share stories and have a laugh. i know them when i see them. so these dipshits swarm the outside of the wedding … and here’s the crazy part- we barely noticed. that’s the thing about closing doors. what happens on the other side doesn’t really matter if the people you let in are the right ones. i felt stunned by how it didn’t affect us at all. dipshit palooza shouting outside, cameras in hand, flying their drones around while me and my people had the most free night of our lives inside. i knew i would write about it because it gave me a broader faith in the concept of who gets in. the people at my wedding, my true audience, my people out there in general who i see and who see me, that’s it.
it’s easy with us because the barrier of entry isn’t simple. bleachers and my work has always been a very long conversation and i have zero fear of the audience becoming corrupted with size because you won’t come to that show unless you know. you just wont, there’s too much to understand for a weekender to have fun. i felt that when we ended the last tour at msg. a wild milestone to sell that place out and an even wilder one to feel like i could relate to everyone in that room. the sidewalk campers in front and the traffic cursed in the back – all my people. opposite of those outside the wedding.
so. when we say bleachers is for anyone not everyone, that’s it. you’re not gonna stay if you’re looking for dipshit palooza. the band has made it this far by making the records that only we can make and pushing ourselves to the brink to make every show the last night on earth. that doesn’t change, it strengthens. when we’re met with bad actors, cynics, or anyone or thing trying to change our course, we close the door. just like my wedding night, just like every day when i walk into the studio, just like every night on bleachers forever. whoopsiedaisie!
So, yeah, at one point, the song just becomes him simply listing groups of people who piss him off, including people who “count streams” (presumably people who judge the success of a song just on how much it was streamed), but also, “the ones who like to bully the dolls.”
This, as Antonoff has effectively confirmed (by reposting on his social media someone who pointed it out), is a reference to people who are anti-trans (“dolls” is a slang term for trans women. American fashion designer Conner Ives sell T-shirts for charity labeled “Protect the Dolls”).
It’s not some huge deal, but come on, it’s at least pretty cool for him to throw that in there.
Test
Test
Test