Jack Antonoff for Love, Simon music

The movie Love, Simon is a romantic comedy about the love story of a typical 16-year-old in high school. He is Simon and he is carrying on a covert e-mail flirtation with somebody in school. But he does not know who he is or what he looks like. The identity of this guy who calls himself Blues is the story’s suspenseful reveal. He and Simon just exchange messages, hence the title Love, Simon. 

But Simon has a bigger secret. He is gay and scared to come out. So when a blackmailling low-life in school threatens to reveal his secret and the name of his online boyfriend, it becomes a matter of life or death for Simon to stop it. How Simon and his secret friend grew in friendship and learned to care deeply for each other is what the movie is about. It might be a modern-day tale but it is also a sweet and timeless love story.

Love, Simon is based on the bestselling young adult novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It is directed by Greg Berlanti, who is one of Hollywood’s experts of the teen genre. He is behind Riverdale and he also did the iconic Dawson’s Creek some years ago. No wonder his choice of actors is also spot-on winners with names and faces familiar or even adored by young adults everywhere today. 

Greg has Nick Robinson of Jurassic World and The Fifth Wave in the lead role of Simon, plus Katherine Langford and Miles Heizer of 13 Reasons Why; Keiynan Lonsdale of The Flash; Alexandra Shipp of X-Men: Apocalypse; Jorge Lendeborg Jr. of Spiderman: Homecoming; and Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel as Simon’s parents.

 And when you have a story like Love, Simon and that kind of cast, it is a must for the picture to have music to match. Once again Greg made a clever, most exciting and I must say not really surprising choice given what this guy has been doing as a musician these past few years. Greg picked out the three-time Grammy winning pop star Jack Antonoff to provide the songs for the picture and made him the executive producer of the soundtrack album. 

Jack is one of those names frequently mentioned with reverence in music enclaves nowadays. He started out as the lead singer of the group Steel Train. Then, he joined Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jeff Bhasker in what became the group fun.  These guys co-wrote the monster Grammy winning Song of the Year We Are Young. That was only the beginning.

Recent times have found Jack as producer and co-writer of songs like I Don’t Wanna Live Forever by ZAYN and Taylor Swift from the Fifty Shades of Gray soundtrack; Brave with Sarah Bareilles; and Sweeter Than Fiction also by Taylor. He produced Masseduction by St. Vincent; and Melodrama by Lorde. And he did some songs like Beautiful Trauma and Better Life for Pink; Look What You Made Me Do for Taylor’s Reputation; and Out Of The Woods and I Wish You Would again for Taylor’s 1989.

So to have Jack do the songs for Love, Simon is tantamount to a coup. It is indeed. Every song is a winner, including cleverly chosen oldies like I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston and Someday At Christmas by The Jackson 5 or the surprising The Oogum Boogum Song by Brenton Wood. But it is in the alternative tracks where Jack really outdid himself. 

The music expert who is not too far away from his high school days, as he is only 30 years old picked out tunes that are most likely to be on frequent repetition for high school kids. The tracks seem initially eclectic like having Sink In by Amy Shark alongside Love Lies by Khalid and Normani or the British alternative band 1975’s Love Me but do gel when heard on the soundtrack.

Also included are Never Fall In Love by mo and Jack; Strawberries & Cigarettes by Troye Sivan; Wings by Haerts; and new releases from Jack’s own group Bleachers. Best of the lot though are works that he included in the collection by his band Bleachers, Rollercoaster; Keeping A Secret, Wild Heart and the first single release Alfie’s Song (Not So Typical Love Song).

Incidentally, the Love, Simon album has joined the ranks of today’s big selling soundtracks. These are The Greatest Showman by Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Sendaya and others; Black Panther, Music from and Inspired by produced by Kendrick Lamar; Moana; Love, Simon; Trolls; The Fate Of The Furious, the Album; 50 Shades Freed; Elvis Presley, The Searcher by Elvis Presley; Zombies; and Suicide Squad: The Album.