"Welcome to New York" is the first track from Taylor Swift's fifth studio album, 1989. It was released as a promotional single for the album on October 20, 2014 and was written by Taylor and Ryan Tedder, even before Taylor had came to New York, and was produced by Taylor, Ryan Tedder and Noel Zancanella. The song's meaning is about how much Taylor loves New York, where she lives and how it is so welcoming and beautiful. The song was featured in the animated movie, The Secret Life of Pets.
Background
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.
Chart performance
The song has peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100. On January 22, 2015, "Welcome to New York" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for its shipments exceeding of one million 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.
Hidden Message
Hidden message: We begin our story in New York.
Explanation: As Swifties on Twitter instantly noted when the song was first released, this tune is a perfect finish to a nice little trilogy that began with Taylor Swift's "A Place in This World" where she sang about -- you guessed it! -- looking for where she belonged in the world, and continued on Speak Now's "Mean," where she sang/promised, "someday I'll be living in a big ol' city."
Lyrics
Walking through a crowd, the village is aglow
Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats
Everybody here wanted something more
Searching for a sound we hadn't heard before
And it said
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
It's a new soundtrack
I could dance to this beat (beat)
Forevermore
The lights are so bright
But they never blind me (me)
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
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
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
It's a new soundtrack
I could dance to this beat (beat)
Forevermore
The lights are so bright
But they never blind me (me)
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
Like any great love, it keeps you guessing
Like any real love, it's ever-changing
Like any true love, it drives you crazy
But you know you wouldn't change anything, anything, anything
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York
It's a new soundtrack
I could dance to this beat (beat)
Forevermore
The lights are so bright
But they never blind me (me)
Welcome to New York!
It's been waiting for you
Welcome to New York
Welcome to New York