New York | 5ive Songs

1. Taylor Swift, “Welcome to New York”

💿 1989 • 🏷 Big Machine • 📅 2014

“Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you /… It’s a new soundtrack, I could dance to his beat, beat, forevermore.” 🎵 “Welcome To New York” commences the first pop album by 🏆 Grammy-winner 🎙 Taylor Swift, 💿 1989.  The NY-centric opener is the first taste glimpse listeners get of this new Swift, moving beyond her country roots and shifting to pop.

“Welcome To New York” is bright, sleekly produced (Swift, 🎛 Ryan Tedder, and 🎛 Noel Zancanella), and incredibly inviting.  Accurately, Swift sings on the first verse, “Everybody here wants something more / Searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before.” She follows up on the second with a similarly accurate statement: “Everybody here was someone else before / And you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls.” ❤️ that LGBTQ+ 🏳️‍🌈 nod for sure. “Welcome To New York” celebrates Swift’s move to the great city in the state of NY.

2. Jeremy Zucker, “Brooklyn boy”

💿 brent ii • 🏷 Republic • 📅 2021

Following three duets on 💿 brent ii, 🎙 Jeremy Zucker and 🎙 Chelsea Cutler each drop their own solo tracks. Zucker compels with 🎵 “Brooklyn boy,” among the top-three songs from the EP.  For much of the song, Zucker sings with great subtlety and showing incredible vulnerability.  The lyrics are quite emotional and thoughtfully penned, particularly given the ‘pandemic state of mind’ that has bogged the world down.

The final chorus of “Brooklyn boy” is terrific:

“You’ll be my savior, I’ll be your Brooklyn boy
Keep me from danger, ‘til I go overboard
I haven’t left my house in months
I’ll be your angel, you’ll be my flower girl
When it gets painful, I’ll take all I can endure
Fuck are we fighting for? The year’s already gone.”

Beyond the chorus, there’s a surprising outro, which features more electronic production touches and vocals effects that we don’t normally associated with Zucker.  He’s also quite overt which is a welcome change of pace by all means.

Also Appears On 🔽:

🔗 🎧 Brooklyn: 3BOPS No. 12 (2021)

3. St. Vincent, “New York”

💿 MASSEDUCTION • 🏷 Loma Vista • 📅 2017

“And if I call you from First Avenue / Where you’re the only motherfucker in the city / Who can handle me…” Wow! 🎵 “New York”, the two-and-a-half-minute promo single from 💿 MASSEDUCTION, the 2017 album by 🏆 Grammy-winner 🎙 St. Vincent, is chocked-full of personality. The aforementioned lyrics confirm such as “New York” adds a couple of f-bombs, with ‘mother’ preceding them.  Even with the swears, Annie Clark sounds cool, calm, and collected.

Well-written and enjoyable, she keeps things simple on “New York.” Arguably, the varying pre-chorus is the best part of “New York.” Nonetheless, the chorus, which doesn’t appear until after the second verse, is strong as well, adding to the allure of this NY-based gem.

“I have lost a hero
I have lost a friend
But for you, darling
I’d do it all again.”

4. Jon Bellion, “New York Soul – Pt. ii”

💿 The Human Condition • 🏷 Capitol • 📅 2016

“New Yorker in California, packed Brooklyn up in this bag / I’m in Malibu with the Bronx, she’s in Kevin Love with your man.” 🎙 Jon Bellion definitely brings a sense of adventure and plenty of alternativeness to pop music.  He even managed to get some more mainstream attention on his 2016 album, 💿 The Human Condition, thanks to a hit single, 🎵 “All Time Low”. “All Time Low” was a bop for sure, but a personal favorite moment from the album was when he decided to bust out the bars and show pride for his home state on 🎵 “New York Soul – Pt. ii.”

“New York Soul – Pt. ii” is Jon Bellion to the core.  There is colorful, intriguing production work, with some badass beat/production switches in the process.  Bellion is confident AF, packing some punch behind his bars, particularly the moment he denounces “fuck boy rap” on the second verse. Adding to the allure, my boy 🎙 Alec Benjamin serenades us on the Brooklyn-loving chorus (“Lay me down in Brooklyn if I lose my life /… I did everything for New York”).

5. Jay-Z, “Empire State of Mind”

Ft. Alicia Keys

💿 The Blueprint 3 • 🏷 Roc Nation • 📅 2009 

“Catch me at the X with OG at a Yankee game / Shit, I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can…” What happens when you put two 🏆 Grammy-winning musicians on the same track? Excellence, at least that’s the case with 🎙 Jay-Z and 🎙 Alicia Keys, who joined forces in 2009 to create a new anthem for the state/city with 🎵 “Empire State of Mind.”  “Empire State of Mind” marked one of the brightest spots of Hov’s The Blueprint 3. On “Empire State of Mind,” Jay-Z is on-point, dropping some of the best rhymes of his career. Keys, of course, gets the honor of performing the most memorable part of this beloved, decade-plus song, the chorus, in all its glory.

“In New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand-new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York.”