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The BBC, like Channel 4, is a public service broadcaster – and it too is no stranger to controversy. In the past 12 months, barely a month has gone by when TV crews haven’t been huddled outside Broadcasting House because of various crises, from Scott Mills’ sacking to the Panorama Trump edit. It’s also faced criticism about the handling of its own controversies.

BLEACHERS

Everyone For Ten Minutes (Dirty Hit)

When Jack Antonoff won the Grammy for producer of the year three years running, from 2022 to 2024, few were surprised. He’s been a crucial player in defining the pop and alternative sound of the last decade, having worked with artists including Lorde, Lana Del Rey and a particular ‘eras’-defining popstar conglomerate.

Antonoff has seen many an artist pivot in sound and style as a producer, yet his solo project Bleachers has remained somewhat sonically consistent since its debut. Hitting the mid-2010s with a fresh pop-rock take, stadium-warranted anthems, and a hinting of Springsteen influence, Bleachers were certainly singular in sound. Everyone For Ten Minutes, the fifth instalment of Antonoff’s not-quite one-man band, remains true to this, if not complacently.

Upon first listen, it’s a dynamic record with earnest songwriting and huge brass band moments. There’s a visceral element to the recording of these songs that make the record, at times, feel like a live concert album rather than a studio. Ultimately, this is down to Antonoff‘s live capabilities and showmanship. His commitment to his performance, onstage and off, brings a beating heart to every track.

A common theme of a Bleachers’ record is nostalgia, and this may be their biggest downfall. The issue is that Everyone For Ten Minutes is interchangeable with the rest of Bleachers’ discography, making what was once exciting now quite predictable. This lack of evolution seems to run divergent to the work Antonoff produces with his female peers. While the standard for them is to be in a constant state of change – to never be seen doing the same thing twice – Antonoff, much like other men in music, are afforded stagnation without consequence.

It’s fascinating that given Jack Antonoff’s expansive production portfolio across pop and alternative music that Bleachers fails to showcase as an artist the range that he quite clearly possesses as a producer. Everyone For Ten Minutes is, unfortunately, not an exception to this rule. On Take You Out Tonight, he sings about only making the records he wants to make – the truest sentiment behind Bleachers’ manifesto, no doubt. But considering Antonoff’s pop-excellent contributions of the last decade, perhaps we can let him off easy for such self-indulgence.

words RHYS JAMES