Jack White Rejects Pop’s ‘Public Break-Up’ Songwriting
Jack White has said he has little interest in writing songs that directly chronicle his own life, pushing back on the current trend of pop stars turning highly public relationships into lyrics. The musician made the comments while discussing his new book of writings and lyrics, and he framed his approach as more character-driven than confessional.
In an interview promoting Jack White: Collected Lyrics & Selected Writing Volume 1, NME reported that White said the “Taylor Swift way” of “writing about all of their publicly aired break-ups” is “something” he “doesn’t find interesting at all,” adding that it would be “a little bit boring” for him to write about himself.
White also explained that he avoids putting his most painful experiences into songs because he does not want to repeatedly relive them onstage or leave them open to online ridicule. He said he will put only a “percentage” of personal experience into his work and then transform it into someone else’s character, arguing that shifting perspective helps him understand his own feelings indirectly.
The interview also touched on Donald Trump, whom White has criticised publicly, and White said that while he is comfortable making direct statements about the president, he prefers not to name names when translating those ideas into art. In recent years, White has repeatedly targeted Trump’s rhetoric online, including in response to racially charged posts, as previously covered when he called out a racist meme involving Barack and Michelle Obama.
White’s new book was edited by his official archivist Mr. Ben Blackwell and is positioned as a follow-up to The White Stripes Complete Lyrics 1997-2007, collecting his writing outside the band alongside poems, notebook scans and social media notes. White also has a visual art show, ‘These Thoughts May Disappear’, scheduled to open in London in late May and run through mid-September.
