“I Wanna Get Better” is a 2014 single from Jack Antonoff’s project known as Bleachers. Antonoff is well known as a pop producer for many notable artists, such as Taylor Swift, Lorde, Charli XCX, and Lana Del Rey. Antonoff’s producing is often noted for his tributes to 80s pop and synths, as well as loud, explosive choruses. Both of these elements are present in “I Wanna Get Better.” The song features very rhythmic drums, synths, and the beginning of the chorus is marked with an explosive noise.
Antonoff crafted “I Wanna Get Better” mostly with samples. The song began with an audio recording on his iPhone of himself playing a few chords on a piano. He then pitched up the chords and sampled them to sound more percussive. He also sampled voicemails from friends and a recording of his friend screaming to include in the song’s beat. For the drums, Antonoff found a recording of himself playing the drums over 10 years prior to creating “I Wanna Get Better” and then adjusted its pitch. He then included 80s sounding synths, which are a trademark for most Bleachers songs. To mark the beginning of the song’s chorus, Antonoff included an explosion to introduce the listener to the energy of the chorus.
Before Antonoff wrote the lyrics for “I Wanna Get Better”, he crafted the instrumental track without any ideas for a song. The song was inspired mostly by “found” sounds, which Antonoff sampled to create something new. Through sampling and pitching, Antonoff was able to take ordinary or mundane sounds, and turn them into a high-energy pop song.