Format Digital download Length 3:32 | Genre Synthpop Label Big Machine | |
Released October 20, 2014 (2014-10-20) Writer(s) Taylor Swift
Ryan Tedder | ||
"Welcome to New York" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released as the second promotional single on October 20, 2014 from Swift's fifth album, 1989. Swift is donating all proceeds from the sale of the single to the New York City Department of Education.
Contents
Background and release
The song was released to digital download on iTunes and with the CD on October 20, 2014. The song is the opening track on the album, 1989. Prior to the digital release Swift released a 30-second sampler of the song on YouTube. When discussing the song with E! Online, Swift states that "The inspiration that I found in that city is kind of hard to describe and hard to compare to any other force of inspiration I've ever experienced in my life." She continued on by stating "I approached moving there with such wide-eyed optimism and sort of saw it as a place of endless potential and possibilities. You can kind of hear that reflected in this music and this first song especially." When discussing the song's placement on the album Swift stated the reason she wanted the track to be the first song on the album was "because New York has been an important landscape and location for the story of my life in the last couple of years. You know, I dreamed about living in New York, I obsessed moving to New York and then I did it." The lines "And you can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls" has been viewed as Swift's way of supporting LGBT equality.
Composition
"Welcome to New York" is a synthpop song written by Swift and Ryan Tedder and produced by Swift, Tedder and Noel Zancanella. It runs the length of three minutes and thirty-two seconds (3:32).It has a moderate beat of 117 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of G major with Swift's vocals spanning between the octaves of D4 and D5.
Critical reception
Jim Farber of New York Daily News criticized the song saying "Unlike the classic odes to our city, Swift’s lacks the sophistication, or substance, of Gotham-themed hits by Frank Sinatra ("New York, New York"), Billy Joel ("New York State of Mind") or Alicia Keys/Jay Z ("Empire State of Mind")." Jen Carlson of Gothamist called it "the worst NYC anthem of all time." Julianne Escobedo Shepherd of Jezebel called the song a "gentrification anthem so obtuse it makes one wonder if (Swift) is, in fact, trolling at this point." Esther Zuckerman of Entertainment Weekly pointed out that "It honors the city... but only skims the surface." Robert Christgau, who called it his favorite song on 1989, felt critics had been too harsh so as to not appear to be fans of Swift, while writing:
Having emigrated to Manhattan myself, albeit from Queens, I think it's silly to demand sociology from someone who can't stroll Central Park without bodyguards. I note that even from a limo you can tell that the "everyone" here who "was someone else before" includes many immigrants of color. And I credit its gay-curious moment even if she ends up with a banker like her dad. All that said, however, there's a big difference between Swift's Manhattan and the one I can afford only due to real estate laws as vestigial as the family grocery that just closed up across the street, and you can hear that difference in the music.
In more enthusiastic critique, Forrest Wickman from Slate considered it "a soaring synth-pop anthem of the kind you could imagine being sung by Katy Perry." Daniel D’Addario of Time magazine stated that it was a "new kind of equality anthem" and that while, "A full-throated cry for marriage equality or an end to bullying it isn't...its simple declarativeness fits the tenor of the times." Nate Scott of USA Today praised the song and said it would be "the next New York anthem" and stated that the song "works. It works because Taylor Swift is the kind of artist that doesn’t care — at all — that the “I’m a young person who just moved to New York!” narrative is a tired cliché. She just lived it: She moved to New York, and she felt her life was changed by moving to the big city." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard gave the song three stars out of five and praised the song stating that it "naturally arrives with a warm grin slapped on the first carnival-themed synthesizer. Compared to two other Swift songs—her last two album openers, 'Mine' from Speak Now and 'State of Grace' from Red—'Welcome To New York' is sunny and conflict-free, an uncomplicated NYC greeting straight out of the opening montage to "That Girl" while criticizing the song by stating that "Swift’s experience of moving to New York is probably a bit different than those of us out-of-staters who have had to make the post-college pilgrimage to the big city; while Swift perkily admires how 'the Village is aglow,' she doesn't remark on the subway rats or waking up in closet-sized bedrooms."
Chart performance
The song has peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. On January 22, 2015, "Welcome to New York" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for its shipments exceeding of 500,000 units in the United States.
The song performed well in Oceania, peaking at number 6 and 23 in New Zealand and Australia, respectively. In Hungary, the song peaked at number 16 on the Association of Hungarian Record Companies Top 20 Singles chart, number 19 on the Canadian Hot 100, number 21 in Spain, number 27 in Denmark, and 39 on the UK Single Charts.
Cover versions and media usage
Ryan Adams recorded a rock version of "Welcome to New York" for his album 1989, a cover of Swift's album 1989. Yahoo! writer Oscar Gracey said that Adams' cover of "Welcome to New York" is "more Coney Island than East Village." The song is also featured in the films How to Be Single and The Secret Life of Pets as well as the end credits for the 4K cut of The Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. It is also used as the main theme for the current TSG Pictures incarnation.
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from liner notes of 1989.