One some level, this entire project is completely fraught. At the end of the day, art is very subjective. As much I dislike songs like Speak Now and Red, if someone likes those songs then there's absolutely nothing I can do to convince them otherwise, and that's exactly how it should be! I'm not saying that there's no way to evaluate songs objectively; I'm sure that every person who has studied music theory is holding back from punching their screen right now. And there's no doubt that the quality of music certainly is aided by critical studies, but in my opinion it is much less useful when it comes to evaluating music. Hardly anyone can name the specific technical reasons that make them enjoy a given song which makes me think that it's not really necessary to include in critical analysis. At the very least, I think it's fair to say that what I lose in depth I gain in accessibility. The biggest problem with all the other non-stop Taylor Swift music based blogs I know is that they go way too in depth with the music theory.
So that will finally bring us to today's topic, the 1989 song, Welcome to New York. I don't like this song.I even said so in one of my first blog posts, so it's clearly been on my mind for quite some time now. The issue is that even after all this time I can't for the life of me come up with a concrete reason for why. This is definitely an area where I would expect critical music theory could help me, but like I said before I'm avoiding it because I'm lazy I think it's unnecessary.
In general this seems like a really polarizing song. Lots of people can't stand it, but there are plenty who absolutely love it! That said, about half of the people who like this song seem to only because it was in The Secret Life of Pets as the opening number, being the only sound to play before the main character, a dog voiced by Louis C.K., a decision that the producers are probably regretting right about now. The song actually works well in the movie, because it lets the audience know that the movie takes place in the big apple.
This poster is super creepy once you know the dog is Louis C.K.
It's a little on the nose for my taste, and this rings true throughout the entire song. But again, that's my opinion. This actually is a great fit for New York, since people who live there won't shut up about how great it is. This song was written at about the same time that Taylor moved to New York so it makes sense why it came to be, but that doesn't make it any less obnoxious.
Or maybe it's just being proud? See, that's the big issue with trying to critique this song compared to others; every argument that I make against it I can easily see how others could rightfully defend. It's somewhat repetitive, but only on in the catchy parts. Is it pandering or bold? I don't know and honestly I'm getting tired thinking about it. Avoiding these kinds of mental gymnastics is one of the reasons I started this blog, so I'm going to end it here before I get too bogged down.
See you tomorrow,
-C
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