This is the first article of a series of articles (hopefully 16 articles covering the full ‘1989’ album).
Track #01: Welcome To New York
‘Welcome To New York’ is the first track of the ‘1989’ album, which marks a turning point in Taylor’s career. This is a huge move from Country to POP and this first track delivers the POP feel to the best it can.
In an earlier article I mentioned that I didn’t really like ‘Welcome To New York’ when I first heard it. There was too much repetition and electronic drums. But as I keep on listening to it, the song keeps growing on me. Now it’s almost stuck in my head. I keep hearing my inner voice chanting “welcome to New York, na na, It’s been waiting for you, welcome to New York, welcome to new York…”
This songs is actually based on a personal experience of Taylor Alison Swift, when she moved to New York City from her home in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a big move that inspired her to focus more on her career. She says she is, was and will be ‘overwhelmed’ by New York forever. It has given her a new kind of inspiration to make he music. All of this should have influenced her music career to take a different path as well.
Taylor sings;
“Everybody here wanted something more
Searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before..”
New York City has something to offer for everybody. At least that’s what everyone says. People move to New York is hopes of greater things–things they never had in their grasp before.
“When we first dropped our bags on apartment floors
Took our broken hearts, put them in a drawer
Everybody here was someone else before
And you can want who you want
Boys and boys and girls and girls..”
Taylor says that past is the past when you move to these big cities. Your past heartbreaks are in the history. You keep them locked in a drawer when you are in NYC. And everyone who has been in the apartment before was someone else. Also Taylor goes on to speak about the gay rights here.
Even though the song keeps on repeating ‘Welcome To New York’ like 27 times (exactly) I think the rest of the song has a quite profound meaning. It also has more value because the song is right off of Taylor’s personal life. So all in all it’s a good track. Not the best track to start the album with, in my opinion. But a good track nonetheless.
