Here is a link to Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York”. The song’s upbeat and syncopated textures evoke feelings of excitement and possibility, while the lyrics encourage individual expression and freedom in a new place where “anything is possible”.
What does it sound like? New, likable, popular music, with a bit of an 80’s throwback feel. 1989 was a turning point in Swift’s career from the country genre to the pop scene. “Welcome to New York”‘s creation, in and of itself, was a rebirth.
Who created it? A young pop star who, coincidentally, had recently moved to New York city shortly before the song was released on the album 1989.
When and where was it created? 2014, written by Swift and recorded in a studio.
What is its subject? Arriving in a new city and imagining all the new possibilities to be found therein.
What is being expressed? A new sense of self, creativity, excitement and possibility.
What techniques did its creator use to help us understand what is being expressed? Certain lyrics such as “searching for a sound we hadn’t heard before” evoke creativity. “Everybody here was someone else before” evokes a sense of self and re-creation. Finally, the main line, “welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you” evokes a sense of possibility and excitement
What kind of form or structure does it have? A typical pop song structure: Verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.
(I have deliberately not included any citations in this section because I’m a big enough Taylor Swift geek to know all of this background information off the top of my head.)
Here is a link to three Leonid Afremov paintings of scenes in New York City. One features a bridge in Central Park, the other two include images of high-rises, street lights and bustling people. I chose these paintings because of their liberal use of color and light. Colors appear in unexpected places, evoking again that sense of possibility and creativity. I connect the various elements of these paintings to the lyrics in Swift’s song (particularly, “the lights are so bright but they never blind me”).
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