Welcome to New York


Taylor Swift dropped another song from her high anticipated fifth studio album, 1989, last night, causing quite a frenzy among her fans (because it's Taylor Swift and everything she does causes a frenzy among her fanbase).  Welcome to New York is the third song we've heard from 1989, which hits store shelves in just under a week (only 6 more days! Oh my god!), and is just as great and catchy as Shake It Off and Out of the Woods.  All three songs have seen the top spot on the iTunes charts.

The question might be raised - why I am writing about Welcome To New York, when I didn't write about Shake It Off or Out of the Woods?  Because it's not that Welcome To New York isn't more important than the previous two songs, but it is.  Shake It Off got people talking about the album and about Taylor's new style of music.  Shake It Off introduced people to what pop!Taylor would sound like and got people excited.  Out of the Woods is the song that Taylor feels best describes the album as a whole.  So what is it that's got me talking about Welcome To New York? (aside from the fact that I live in New York, of course).

This is how it went when I first heard it:

First listen: Well, every album has that one song I skip every time.  I guess this is just go to be that song.
Second listen: Actually, this is kind of catchy...
Third listen: OH MY GOD THIS IS MY NEW JAM I WILL BE DANCING TO THIS BEAT FOREVER MORE.

Aside from just being an extremely happy sounding song in which you can feel how in love with New York Taylor has fallen, this is the song that has generated, from what I've seen, the most curiosity from fans before its release.  Fans who attended the Secret Sessions at various locations reported that there was one song with a pro-LGBT message in it.  The question became... what was this message?  What did Taylor say?  None of us who hadn't heard the song already knew that Welcome To New York was going to be that song, and the fans on Tumblr were quick to realize it was.

Taylor sings: you can want who you want / boys and boys / and girls and girls.

It isn't much, but the fact that it's there is so super important.  Taylor is the biggest superstar on the planet.  1989 is expected to sell 750K the first week, though fans are desperate to get that number up past one million - if 1989 sells over one million in its first week of sales, Taylor will go down in history at the first artist EVER to have three consecutive albums sell over one million copies during release week.  Taylor has a huge fanbase, and one must admit that a large part of her fanbase is little girls.  Young girls who will listen to the album and see Taylor in concert and scream out the line "You can want who you want" and learn that it's okay to be who you are and to love who you love.

There is just something about Taylor that makes her feel like the older sister you never had.  Taylor is the biggest star on the planet, yet somehow, it feels as if she is closer to her fans than ever before.  Somehow, Taylor saying "you can want who you want" isn't just another celebrity saying "Gay people deserve equal rights!"  No, it's your best friend and your older sister reaching out to comfort you and remind you that everything is going to be okay.  It's that person who you know will always be there for you reminding you just that - she will always be there.

The line, it isn't much, but coming from an artist with such strong country roots, it's everything.

1989 hits stores on October 27th.  Preorder your copy on iTunes today!

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